Smoking Cigarettes Reportedly Leads To Brain Shrinking And May Increase Your Risk For Alzheimer’s

Smoking has long been associated with lung damage, but a recent study has provided further evidence of its detrimental effects on the brain.

A team of researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine (WashUMed) in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted a comprehensive analysis of brain scans, smoking history, and genetic risk factors. The study involved 32,094 participants of European descent from the UK Biobank database.

Individuals who smoked one pack daily exhibited a notable reduction in brain volume in comparison to those who never smoked or had a lower lifetime cigarette consumption of less than 100.

The shrinkage increased with each additional year of smoking.

Researchers have shed light on the increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in older individuals who smoke. The study, featured in the January 2024 issue of Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, provides valuable insights into this connection.

“People who smoke are more likely to have deterioration in gray and white matter, which provides a possible explanation as to why 14% of global Alzheimer’s disease cases could be attributable to cigarette smoking,” they wrote in the study findings.

“Up until recently, scientists overlooked the effects of smoking on the brain, in part because we were focused on all the terrible effects of smoking on the lungs and the heart,” said senior author Laura J. Bierut, M.D., the Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry, in a press release from WashUMed.

The researchers highlighted that smoking accelerates the process of brain volume reduction, which has long been associated with aging.

“This is important as our population gets older because aging and smoking are both risk factors for dementia,” noted Bierut.

There is a positive finding that quitting the habit can actually prevent further loss of brain tissue. However, it is important to note that the shrinkage cannot be reversed.

“You can’t undo the damage that has already been done, but you can avoid causing further damage,” said first author Yoonhoo Chang, a graduate student at WashUMed.

“Smoking is a modifiable risk factor. There’s one thing you can change to stop aging your brain and putting yourself at increased risk of dementia, and that’s to quit smoking.”