Cigarette Smoke Can Prevent Allergies

It's common knowledge that cigarette smoke is bad for your health. Smoking is a leading cause in lung cancer, pulmonary disease and can affect one's immune system. Despite the habit's bad reputation for being a trouble maker in health, it does have one point for the positive side. According to researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, cigarette smoke can protect smokers from some types of allergies.

Allergies are the body's natural response to allergens. These responses include the most irritable feelings a person can experience; inflammation, watery eyes, sneezing, headaches, and etc. Mast cells, or mastocytes, are the culprits responsible for allergic reactions. Mast cells play a major part in the human immune system's response to allergens by releasing histamines into the blood stream, which in turn cause the allergic reactions. To prevent allergic reactions, one would take an antihistamine, a medicine which counteracts the effects of histamine.

Likewise, cigarette smoke prevents allergic reactions from some types of allergens. Cigarette smoke differs in its remedy by stopping the source of the histamines, inhibiting the activity of the mast cells.

Although the above mentioned benefit of cigarette smoke can be an effective solution to some allergies, the health risks far outweigh it. If you do experience allergies, continue with your normal mode of prevention and take antihistamines.

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-George Wong