Firstly, smoking increases the risk of dementia, but protects against Parkinson disease.

The same toxic compounds in cigarette smoke that damage the heart and lungs also
damage blood vessels and neurons in the brain. Amongst smokers who don’t succumb early
to lung cancer , emphysema or heart attacks, smoking has been linked to an increased
likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in general later in life. But what’s
bad for the body it seems is also bad for the brain.

And yet, studies have observed that the more people smoke, the less likely they are to
develop Parkinson disease. This inverse correlation was first observed in 1960’s by
epidemiologist Harold Kahn. When he analyzed the health insurance record of nearly
300,000 veterans, Kahn noticed that smokers who had served in the US military between
1917 and 1940 were three times less likely than non-smokers to have later died of Parkinson
disease, even though they were over ten times more likely to have died of lung cancer or
emphysema than non-smokers. This finding has since been bolstered by numerous studies.
In case of Parkinson disease, dopamine producing neurons in the midbrain degenerate and
die. But nicotine appears to protects these neurons, at least in rodent models of the disease.
Clinical trials using nicotine to treat Parkinson’s disease in human are currently underway,
but doctors still not recommend using nicotine. Nicotine does improve certain aspects of
human cognition and it is being explored not only treat Parkinson but other dementias and
even everyday inattention. But the relationship between Parkinson and smoking probably
involves more than just nicotine which again is but one component of cigarette smoke. While
the latter is believed to increase one’s risk of developing dementia, the former may be useful
in treating it.

Secondly, the fickle relationship between obesity and smoking. Cigarette ads have long
touted the appetite-suppressing qualities of tobacco. Even today much of the public believes
that cigarette can be used to lose weight. Indeed, people do eat less when they smoke and
quitting smoking can cause a temporary spike in weight gain. Four years ago, a scientist
finally identified how nicotine curbs the appetite via a hunger circuit in the brain, lending an
explanation for decades of studies that broadly correlated smoking with lower body weight.

Why do hardcore cigarette addicts and young people miss out on the appetite-
suppressing, weight controlling effects of smoking? It turns out that other obesity risk factors
like low levels of physical activity and poor diet, are associated with smoking more
cigarettes. Add it all up, and the weight loss effects of smoking are quickly negated by
television and fast food. Its impossible draw causal conclusions from these types of studies,
which often rely on people’s self reports of their own behavior, but clearly smoking is no
panacea for obesity. Thirdly, false promises : some smoker’s paradoxes may not exist at all,
originally referred to the observation that smoker’s seem to have better short term health
outcomes than non smoker’s following hospitalization for heart attacks. But this “paradox”
may have a straightforward explanation : Smoker’s are notorious for having heart attacks
earlier in life than non-smokers when their bodies are generally more resilient. Science bears
this idea out. Smokers are hospitalized for heart attacks eleven years earlier on average
than non-smokers and this age gap “generally accounted” for the formers more favorable
outcomes. Of note, most studies claiming this smoking/heart attack paradox are over 20
years old and some doctors have argued that the age dependency of the smoker’s paradox
has been rendered irrelevant in the face of modern therapies for heart attack victims. Studies
on the smoker paradox highlight the risk of another paradox. Simpson paradox which occurs
when an apparent result is actually a better reflection of some unacknowledged third factor.
Simpson’s paradox has even led scientists to mistakenly conclude that smoking could have
save lives. It’s not easy to study human health, let alone the potential benefits of one of
deadliest recreations. Maybe some day we’ll have nicotine based therapies for our ailments
but the smoker paradox is best chewed on by doctors, statisticians and a amateur health
science enthusiasts not the average person who light up. Doctor’s today are unanimous in
their opposition to smoking even as some smokers dodge Parkinson disease, ulcerative
colitis and Saturday night desserts while playing the ultimate game of chicken with their
hearts and lungs.

Last but not least, smoking not only bring harm to people but it also could gave some
benefits to others but it is depends on the people where as the want to smoke or not.