Smoking can result in health conditions resembling lung cancer, heart attacks and even stroke. But can cigarette smoking affect mental health too? A recent study suggests that smoking doubles the danger of mental health issues resembling depression and bipolar disorder.

In the newest study published within the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, researchers from Aarhus University evaluated 337,140 participants from the U.K. Biobank to know the connection between smoking and mental illness.

“The numbers speak for themselves. Smoking does cause mental illness. Although it is not the one cause, smoking increases the danger of being hospitalized with a mental illness by 250%,” Doug Speed, a co-author of the study, said in a news release.

“Smoking typically comes before the mental illness. In truth, an extended time before. On average, people from the info set began smoking on the age of 17, while they were typically not admitted to hospital with a mental disorder until after the age of 30,” he added.

Researchers found the possibilities of a baby becoming a smoker were high when the adoptive parents smoked. Nonetheless, the danger was higher when the biological parents smoked. The team found that “smoking-related genes” inherited from the biological parents play a vital role in deciding if an individual will smoke.

“Once we checked out the various smokers within the database, we found various recurring genetic variants. By twin studies, through which the twins had the identical genes but grew up in separate homes, we could see that their genes could explain 43% of the danger of becoming a smoker,” Speed said.

The study didn’t evaluate the biological mechanism by which smoking causes mental health issues. Researchers imagine the problems could be attributable to the brain damage brought on by nicotine.

“We still need to seek out the biological mechanism that causes smoking to induce mental disorders. One theory is that nicotine inhibits absorption of the neurotransmitter serotonin within the brain, and we all know that individuals with depression don’t produce enough serotonin,” Speed said. “One other explanation could possibly be that smoking causes inflammation within the brain, which in the long run can damage parts of the brain and lead to numerous mental disorders. But as I said: We do not know of course as yet.”

Published by Medicaldaily.com