Lime Juice and Other Natural Ways to Quit Smoking

One of the most common new year resolutions is quitting smoking. But if you, or someone you know, have tried over the counter methods to quit and got tired of them, here are a few natural ways to help you quit smoking. One of them is lime juice!




There are so many reasons to quit smoking, but one of the recent less known ones is that tobacco is contaminated with the highly carcinogenic radioisotope polonium-210. Unfortunately quitting smoking is not so easy as many smokers know the hard way. This is why it is always beneficial to learn of new methods that can help you in making this transition.

The first is lime! A recent study published in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand tested the effect of fresh lime as a smoking cessation aid in comparison with nicotine gum. The study included 100 regular smokers over 18 years old who want to quit. They were entered into a 6-month long randomized trial. 47 received fresh lime and 53 received nicotine gum.

The researchers measured the reduction in smoking among the subjects using exhaled carbon monoxide (CO). Weeks 9-12 measurements were the main ones. As to the craving, it was measured using visual analogue scale.

The results were interesting. Lime users and nicotine gum users had no significant differences. The differences were that lime users had less abstinence at week 4 compared to the nicotine gum users: 38% vs. 58%. Another difference is that lime users reported more cravings than nicotine gum users but the difference in number was not significantly large.

Conclusion: The report concluded that "Fresh lime can be used effectively as a smoking cessation aid, although not as good as nicotine gum in reducing cravings."

Lime has other benefits as well:
- alkalinizing the tissues (in smokers they tend to be acidic),
- anti-infective agent (antimicrobial activity against multiple strains of drug resistant E. coli),
- inhibiting the survival of Vibrio cholera (pathogen contributes to cholera) in foods.

Now the other 8 ways to help quit smoking with links to references:

1- Acupuncture: "Acupuncture treatment ameliorated the smoking withdrawal symptoms as well as the selective attention to smoking-related visual cues in smokers."  

2- Exercise: "Five minutes of moderate intensity exercise is associated with a short-term reduction in desire to smoke and tobacco withdrawal symptoms." 

3- Hypnosis: "Hypnosis combined with nicotine patches compares favorably to standard behavioral counseling for smoking cessation.[vii] In a meta-analysis of 59 studies hypnosis was judged to be partially efficacious in the treatment of smoking cessation."

4- Black pepper: "Inhalation of vapor from black pepper reduces smoking withdrawal symptoms."

5- Mindfulness: "Mindfulness-based interventions reduce the urge to smoke in college student smokers."

6- Self-massage: "Smoking cravings are reduced by self-massage." 

7- Rhodiola rosea: "Rhodiola rosea has a therapeutic effect in the treatment of smoking cessation." 

8- St. John's wort: "There is preclinical evidence that St. John's wort is therapeutic in nicotine addiction.[xiii] [xiv] [Note: St. John's wort can interact with a wide range of medications, and should be used under the guidance of a licensed health professional]"

Start 2014 smoking free!  


Source:
Green Med Info: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/lime-juice-and-8-other-natural-ways-quit-smoking