Are you a smoker who is having great difficulty quitting? Part of the reason you are struggling so much could be due to your genetics. A study that focused on twins, and their smoking habits, revealed that there is a genetic link that influences people to start smoking, (and affects how hard it is for them to quit).
I have plenty of smokers in my family. My mother has two brothers, and both of them smoke. One of my brothers is a smoker. My father has at least two siblings that spent many years smoking. This is the sort of addiction that seems to run in families.
I do not smoke, in part because the smoke from cigarettes causes me to have a horrible allergic reaction. But, I have heard many stories about how difficult it can be for some people to quit smoking.
A study was led by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The researchers looked at information that was in a database of nearly 600 pairs of twins. Some of the twins were identical, and others were fraternal.
The researchers focused on the smoking patterns of the twins, between the years 1960 through 1980. Those years were selected because that was a timeframe when tremendous changes were made in social attitudes about smoking. In 1960, smoking was considered to be “cool”. By 1980, there were “Smoking Stinks” campaigns in place that were designed to encourage people to quit smoking.
The study had some interesting results. In pairs of identical twins, (where both twins were smokers), if one twin quit smoking, then the other one would quit, too. This would happen within a two year span of the first identical twin deciding to quit. It happened about 65% of the time.
Researchers also looked at pairs of fraternal twins, (where both twins were smokers). If one fraternal twin quit smoking, the other twin might or might not quit as well. Only 55% of fraternal twins who smoked ended up quitting if their twin stopped smoking.
Identical twins share the same genes. Fraternal twins don’t share any more DNA than siblings who are not twins would share with each other. From this, the researchers can say that there is a statistically significant difference between the fraternal and identical twins. This suggests that there is a genetic factor that is influencing a person’s ability to quit smoking.
This study fits with previous studies that looked at the DNA of a cross-section of people who are currently smoking. The purpose of those studies was to determine if genetic factors, or social factors, were the most influential in causing people to decide to start smoking.
Today, the majority of people who smoke are people who are “genetically sensitive persons”. In other words, these people continue to smoke not because it is “cool”, or because they are unaware of the health risks that comes from smoking cigarettes. They are unable to stop because they are genetically predisposed to have great difficulty quitting this habit.
Many health insurance policies cover smoking cessation programs. Some health insurers are charging customers who smoke a higher premium rate then they would charge a non-smoking customer. Smokers today are not as accepted as they were in the 1960’s. That means that those who don’t stop smoking are not continuing to do it because it is “cool”. There is a genetic influence at work.
Image by Andrew Magill on Flickr