Do cigarette smokers and coffee drinkers have less Parkinson’s?

Do cigarette smokers and coffee drinkers have less Parkinson's?

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We’re all taught, perhaps correctly, that cigarette smoking is bad for our health. And that drinking coffee is bad too.

But there are a number of studies that have come out recently, challenging this belief.

parkinsons and smoking study

This is one of those meta-studies. Where they look at many other studies, and attempt to draw some conclusions.

This is one where the researchers are very reluctant to draw the conclusions, but they have to, because they are after all scientists.

Smokers have a far lower incidence of Parkinson’s disease.

Smoking seems to protect against Parkinson’s.

And, smoking seems to have a protective effect against developing Alzheimer’s disease.

There are many studies that are showing this.

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And coffee drinking seems to help lower Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s too.

Don’t use this as permission to be a heavy smoker, however.

The research shows that light or moderate smoking, and light or moderate coffee drinking, may be protective.

But heavy smoking or heavy coffee drinking may be too much of a good thing.

Or too much of a bad thing, however you look at it.

The point is, that heavy smokers had no benefit. The benefit seems to be in light or moderate use of cigarettes, or coffee.

And the researchers did not report on whether vaping, pipe smoking, or cigars would have the same benefit as cigarettes.

It may be that it’s the nicotine that’s beneficial, in which case there are much safer ways of getting nicotine than smoking cigarettes. But we just don’t know. Because there are not enough research dollars going into this area. After all, there are no drug companies that are going to sell you cigarettes. Or coffee. You can just get those yourself.