Lungs can heal miraculously

It’s never too late to quit smoking. As well as preventing further damage from occurring, quitting allows the lungs to regrow which significantly reduces the risk of cancer.

A new study reveals the lungs have an almost extraordinary capacity to heal the damage caused by smoking – but only after you’ve stopped.

Researchers from the UK and Japan analysed lung biopsies from 16 people, including smokers, former smokers and adults who’d never smoked.

The lung cells of current smokers showed far more mutations (including potentially cancer causing ones) then those of non-smokers.

While the lung cells of former smokers also had more mutations than normal, up to 40% of their cells had no signs of damage at all – four times the rate in current smokers.

The scientists suspect that these healthy cells are descended from stem cells that lie dormant while the person still smokes, enabling them to evade damage.

“Once the person quits smoking, the cells gradually proliferate from this safe harbour to replace the damaged cells,” said Dr Peter Campbell of the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

No matter how much flak I took I’ve never relaxed my advice on giving up alcohol in pregnancy. At one time I even opposed NICE guidelines that drinking in moderation was OK. I steadfastly stuck to the line, don’t touch a drop. The ex-chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies and I are at one on that.

My logic is this. No one knows how sensitive any unborn baby is to alcohol which freely passes across the placenta and no one can measure the damage that’s inflicted. So why risk it?

All I know is that a study showed a single vodka and orange can stop an unborn baby’s chest movements after only 27 minutes, so this convinced me alcohol is bad for babies. And now a new study has revealed drinking in pregnancy can result in low birth weight and poor cognitive function.

The Bristol University team looked at 23 published studies on drinking during pregnancy.

This is the first time, say the scientists, that results from a range of powerful studies have been compared to examine the effects of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

And the news is women should abstain from alcohol during all three trimesters. Dr Luisa Zuccolo, senior lecturer in epidemiology from the University of Bristol, said: “The body of evidence for the harm that alcohol can do to children before they are born is growing, and our review is the first to look at the full range of studies on the issue. Our work confirms the current scientific consensus: that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can affect a child’s cognitive abilities later in life, including their education. It might also lead to lower birth weight.”

The alcohol industry doesn’t necessarily agree, so Zuccolo’s findings are “more important than ever”.

A 2019 study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London revealed the way alcohol-funded groups slant information about drinking alcohol in pregnancy.

The websites of 23 alcohol industryfunded firms and 19 public health organisations were assessed.

Shockingly, industry-funded firms were less likely to advise pregnant women not to drink any alcohol and were more likely to “emphasise uncertainties” about drinking.

I agree with baby charity Tommy’s, which says “there is no known safe level for drinking during pregnancy”.

The charity also states that the “safest approach is not to drink at all”.

“It is particularly advised not to drink alcohol in the first three months of pregnancy as this is a time of huge growth and development,” it said.

It can affect a child’s cognitive abilities later in life, like education