Scientists discover disturbing new ‘side effect’ of smoking that damages the brain

SMOKING cigarettes every day reduces the size of your brain, a new study has revealed.

The noggins of daily puffers tended to be about 0.4 cubic inches smaller than those who have never taken up the habit.

Getty

Smoking cigarettes every causes brain shrinkage, according to a new study[/caption]

Scientists analysed more than 28,000 brain scans from the UK Biobank – a repository of genetic and health data – as well as self-reported smoking habits.

Participants completed surveys twice – once between 2006 and 2010, and again between 2012 and 2013.

During the second window, participants also underwent MRIs.

Researchers found that compared to people who had never smoked, respondents who did so daily had brain volumes that were 0.4 cubic inches smaller.

This difference included a 0.3 cubic inch decrease in grey matter, which plays a significant role in memory and emotion, and 0.1 of white matter, which facilitates information transfer.

But the more frequently a person had lit up throughout their life, the more pronounced their brain shrinkage was.

For every additional year a participant had smoked one full pack a day, their brain decreased an average of 0.01 cubic inch in grey matter volume.

However, it was good news for quitters.

Further analysis showed those who had stubbed out the habit had reversed the decline.

Each year without smoking was linked to a further 0.005 cubic inch increase in grey matter volume.

This became less significant the more recently they had stopped.

The report was shared on medRxiv and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Dr Dajiang Liu, who studies the genetics of smoking risk at the Penn State College of Medicine and was not involved in the study, told Live Science: “This is a very important study.

“The work is rigorously conducted and the result is important from a public health perspective.”

Brain shrinkage – or cerebral atrophy – happens over time with age.

Symptoms include disorientation, memory loss, blurred vision, muscle weakness and loss of coordination.

It has been linked to several neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s.