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Stockholm (pte019/24.01.2005/10:45) - Smoking could help protect against Parkinson's disease, a recent study suggests. As AlJazeera.net http://english.aljazeera.net reports, researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute http://www.ki.se looked at the medical and death records of sets of Swedish twins, in which one smoked and other did not.
"Many studies have shown a protective effect of cigarette smoking on Parkinsons's disease," said the study, which was published online by the Annals of Neurology. However, many experts have argued that this could be due to genetic factors. According to the researchers, by studying twins with different lifestyles, they sought to exclude the genetic factor.
The Swedish team found no association between Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological condition, and alcohol, coffee or place of residence. However, smokers appeared to be less affected. This confirmed "the protective effect of smoking on Parkinson's disease" and established that the association "is only partially explained by genetic and familial environmental factors," the researchers said.
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