The lungs have an incredible capacity to regenerate after quitting tobacco. But time plays against

Smoking is not healthy at all and even less for our lungs, which are severely affected in their structure by the harmful damage of the tobacco or at the end of any substance other than oxygen. This is something that is quite well internalized, but the other reality is that when we quit tobacco we can recover some of what we lost due to its great capacity for regeneration driven by healthy cells that replace damaged ones.

There is evidence. The great turning point in our understanding of this phenomenon came with a pioneering study published in Nature in 2020, where they analyzed the cells that line our bronchi among smokers, ex-smokers and people who have never touched a cigarette.

Here what they found was fascinating, since they saw that in the lungs of smokers there were a large number of cells that were mutated and could be the prelude to lung cancer. However, upon quitting this bad habit, a group of non-mutated cells genetically similar to those of non-smokers began to proliferate rapidly.

It’s good news. So, at this moment the healthy cells, which had remained “hidden” or protected from the smoke, begin to multiply to replace the damaged ones that end up dying to prevent them from developing cancer.

Here the study pointed out that up to 40% of lung cells in ex-smokers are these new replacement cells, and most importantly, this repair process occurs even in people who have smoked a pack a day for 40 years, which is a lot. That is why this is the explanation we find for the plummeting risk of lung cancer after quitting smoking, although it is not logically eliminated.

The chronology. Regeneration is not only genetic, but it is also mechanical and functional, and we see it clearly in the different events that occur when tobacco is stopped. For example, in the first 24 hours There is a normalization of carbon monoxide levels in the blood and the effect on respiratory capacity or even blood pressure is noticeable.

In subsequent weeks, tissue recovery and regeneration of cilia begins, which are small “brooms” in the lungs to expel the mucus that accumulates upward, drastically reducing respiratory infections. But if we go to the first year, we see how lung capacity experiences a measurable improvement in a spirometry.

You have to be cautious. Despite the good news, experts and companies like SEPAR they are prudent by pointing out that lung regeneration is partial, not total. This means that the lung is not exactly that of a newborn, and there are structural damages that are irreversible.

Diseases such as emphysema or advanced fibrosis persist, since the tissue destroyed at these levels cannot regenerate. Likewise, in the case of COPD, quitting smoking significantly stops or slows down the progression of the disease, but does not cure the severe obstructive damage already established.

Age influences. The regeneration capacity also decreases with age and with the years accumulated as a smoker. Healthy cells end up dominating the epithelium after years of abstinence, but there are always residual risks that do not disappear.

This should make us aware of how important it is to stop smoking as soon as possible so that we can have much fewer chances of having a serious disease in our lung, such as cancer.

Images | wirestock at Magnific

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