TOBACCO AND DIGESTION

Evening Star, Issue 14496, 22 February 1911, Page 3

TOBACCO AND DIGESTION

A medical.correspondent, who is also a tiii- . erect smoker, scuds u> the ’Lancet,’ a comnuniiciitMm, in which lie argues that 'Mho ajt i«i smoking, comprising as it. thxs Mio introducrio:; into the mouth of pungent products <! combustion, excites llio flow of «tdtva, and as salivation is only the first of a series of dnu stiv.i reflnves, once the process is started tl;o appaiartis us a whole follows suit. Pawlo'.v Ink shown that the si;;lit of food of the in l reduction, of bitters into the mouth not only stimulates the salivary "lands but causes the secretion of very active gastric i juice. It follows ihat. smokin'; immediately after a. meal, which is usually condemned and consistently practised, is not necessarily in- I jurious; indeed, in hvpcpeplic subjects it may prove beneficial by virtue of its cxcito-scer;'-tory action. In arid dyspepsia, on tho contrary, it is unquestionably injurious, sines its influence tends to aggravale any pre-exist-in;; acidity. Smoking just before meals is : to ho deprecated, because ihc pungency of t.lu, ■ pyroligneous products remained in tobacco i smoke renders the Inic.-.il mucosa insensitive to alimentary stimulation —in fact, their effect i;i to dull or alnii.-h the olfacto-gus- i Priory reflex, thus depriving ns of what Vaw- ■ low calls ’appetite juice.’ Moreover, by exhausting the salivary secretion, smoking be- • Luc meals prevents the physiological action <’ of the saliva on starchy food.-.” 1