in The lungs of ex-smokers appear to be easier to recover than had previously been believed, it appears Wednesday in a new British study.
Scientists already know that the risk of developing diseases such as lung cancer decreased when a person to quit smoking. It was also known that the cessation of new damage to the lungs occurs.
British scientists have discovered that the body was that of an ex-smoker to be in a position to get some of the tobacco-damaged lungs, and their replacement with healthy ones. Up to 40 per cent of the lungs of ex-smokers appeared to be healthy, after they had been stopped. That’s four times as much as the people who are still smoking.
in Order to make their findings, analyzed the researchers ‘ pieces of lung tissue from sixteen different people, including smokers, ex-smokers, and adults who have never had a non-smoking and children. The researchers looked specifically at mutations in a cells, some of which can lead to cancer.
” It’s never too late to stop
According to lead researcher Peter Campbell of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the study offers hope for smokers who want to quit. “The people who are thirty, forty, or more years, have a smoke, say to me that it is already too late to stop it, because the damage already has been done. What is so exciting about this study is that it shows that it’s never too late to stop it.”
Some of the people who took part in the study had had on their lives, more than fifteen thousand packs of cigarettes smoked. “But within a couple of years after the stop, showed many of the cells in their airways, not to harm due to tobacco,” said Campbell.
The study appears on Thursday in the scientific journal Nature.
See also: Why quitting smoking is so difficult, and what is the best way.