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Wed Nov 8 09:24:27 2000 Pacific Time
Do Vitamins Stem Hazards of Second-Hand Smoke? University of Nevada to Conduct Clinical Trial on Casino Workers
ATTENTION: Health, Workplace editors
RENO, Nev., Nov. 8 (AScribe News) -- Breathe in. Breathe out. Everyone must perform this function thousands of times each day in order to live.
But, casino workers and others exposed to smoky environments are sucking in chromosome-damaging toxins along with life-giving air. University of Nevada, Reno professor of nutrition Chris Pritsos has been awarded a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to find out whether this exposure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and whether anti-oxidant supplements might alleviate some of the risk from environmental tobacco smoke. The study will be conducted on Las Vegas casino workers who do not smoke.
"In no way are we trying to say that if you take anti-oxidants, you'll be OK," Pritsos says. But vitamins C and E and the mineral selenium in moderate doses may reduce the amount of damage caused by inhaling second-hand smoke, he says. Research has shown that second-hand smoke claims as many as 60,000 non-smoking Americans each year by contributing to lethal ailments such as coronary heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The four-year clinical trial - the first major study on environmental tobacco smoke related to workplace exposure - will begin in January. The trial follows a three-month, preliminary study Pritsos conducted in Reno in 1997 that showed promising evidence that anti-oxidant supplementation might provide some protection against oxidative DNA damage caused by environmental tobacco smoke.
"DNA is constantly getting damaged and it is constantly being repaired," Pritsos says. "But even if 99 percent is OK, when just 1 percent is damaged permanently, the resulting mutations can lead to cancer and other diseases."
The Las Vegas study will determine the level of environmental tobacco smoke exposure and cardiovascular risk factors from workers' blood. The 375 volunteers will be split into three groups: one taking low daily doses of supplements Vitamins E, C and selenium; the second group taking moderate levels of these supplements; and the third group will take a placebo.
Professor Sachiko St. Jeor of the University of Nevada School of Medicine is collaborating on the project with Pritsos.
Do Vitamins Stem Hazards of Second-Hand Smoke? University of Nevada to Conduct Clinical Trial on Casino Workers
ATTENTION: Health, Workplace editors
RENO, Nev., Nov. 8 (AScribe News) -- Breathe in. Breathe out. Everyone must perform this function thousands of times each day in order to live.
But, casino workers and others exposed to smoky environments are sucking in chromosome-damaging toxins along with life-giving air. University of Nevada, Reno professor of nutrition Chris Pritsos has been awarded a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to find out whether this exposure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and whether anti-oxidant supplements might alleviate some of the risk from environmental tobacco smoke. The study will be conducted on Las Vegas casino workers who do not smoke.
"In no way are we trying to say that if you take anti-oxidants, you'll be OK," Pritsos says. But vitamins C and E and the mineral selenium in moderate doses may reduce the amount of damage caused by inhaling second-hand smoke, he says. Research has shown that second-hand smoke claims as many as 60,000 non-smoking Americans each year by contributing to lethal ailments such as coronary heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The four-year clinical trial - the first major study on environmental tobacco smoke related to workplace exposure - will begin in January. The trial follows a three-month, preliminary study Pritsos conducted in Reno in 1997 that showed promising evidence that anti-oxidant supplementation might provide some protection against oxidative DNA damage caused by environmental tobacco smoke.
"DNA is constantly getting damaged and it is constantly being repaired," Pritsos says. "But even if 99 percent is OK, when just 1 percent is damaged permanently, the resulting mutations can lead to cancer and other diseases."
The Las Vegas study will determine the level of environmental tobacco smoke exposure and cardiovascular risk factors from workers' blood. The 375 volunteers will be split into three groups: one taking low daily doses of supplements Vitamins E, C and selenium; the second group taking moderate levels of these supplements; and the third group will take a placebo.
Professor Sachiko St. Jeor of the University of Nevada School of Medicine is collaborating on the project with Pritsos.
