In support of World No Tobacco Day, celebrated on May 31st, Nicotinell, the market leader in smoking cessation products recently conducted a two day ‘Extreme Quit’ educational promotion at Deira City Centre. The promotion, which took place on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th May, featured the Smokerlyzer test - a quick, non-invasive test that is performed by simply blowing into a disposable mouthpiece that gives colour indicators as to the level of carbon monoxide gas in the blood - within seconds.
Carbon Monoxide is a colourless, odorless and tasteless gas that is just one of the 200 poisons found in cigarette smoke. When inhaled, the gas enters the blood stream and combines with the hemoglobin cells, blocking the blood’s ability to carry oxygen around the body to the organs and cells.
The test shows any one of three colors: ‘green’ to signal that the levels of carbon monoxide in the blood is low, ‘yellow’ to indicate moderate levels of carbon monoxide, and ‘red’ to alert that levels of carbon monoxide in the body have reached danger zone.
Given visible proof of the effect of cigarettes on their health, moderate smokers were shocked to learn that they had hazardous levels of carbon monoxide in their body with 17% of moderate smokers measuring in the Red Zone. An enormous 79% of heavy smokers were equally shocked to learn that they had extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in their breath.
“Smokers who took part in these tests and whose results were in the red zone are now further aware of the risks of coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis and chronic respiratory disease. Seeing the results of the test should help to encourage and motivate smokers to give up,” said Lalaine Chu-Benitez, Senior Brand Manager, Novartis Consumer Health, makers of Nicotinell patches.
The Smokerlyzer tests further revealed that of those who were reported in the red zone, 46% are between the ages of 23 to 30 and a further 39% were in the range of 30 to 40 years old. 55% of those who marked in the yellow zone are between 20-30 years old.
Chu-Benitez continued: “It is a bad indication that more than half of those reported in the ‘yellow’ zone are between the ages of 20 to 30. This raises major concerns as most of these young smokers are bound to reach the danger zone if they continue their heavy intake of carbon monoxide that is found in cigarettes. The results will certainly shock moderate smokers who seem to believe they are far from harm as they are not classed as heavy smokers. However, the Smokerlyzer test has revealed that moderate smokers still have unsafe carbon monoxide levels in the body.”
For anyone who enjoys smoking shisha, this has been proven to be as harmful and addictive as cigarette smoking, as it contains the same chemicals found in cigarettes, such as nicotine and tar. It is thought that 15 minutes of smoking shisha is equivalent to smoking one cigarette. Therefore many shisha smokers absorb more carbon monoxide than cigarette smokers as a shisha pipe can last for up to an hour and fifteen minutes.
Results of Nicotinell’s ‘Extreme Quit’ educational promotion also revealed that a few social and moderate smokers were also revealed in the red zone, as the levels of carbon monoxide also depend on how hard and for how long a person inhales the cigarette. This highlights how important it is for any smoker to give up. Once the decision has been made to kick the habit, and the smoker has refrained from smoking event through the toughest of those first cravings, carbon monoxide levels in the body decrease immediately. The next step is to get rid of Nicotine cravings.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy products like patches and gums are best suited to tackle this, as they not only provide a physical solution by weaning the smoker away from the nicotine addiction, but also boost their willpower by giving them back control over their lives.
