Smoking harms DNA people up to 30 years later

According to one study, smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the world, which can affect DNA one person more than 30 years after quitting.

Research by Harvard Medical School has given evidence that smoke causes long-term effects on molecular machinery. Those who quit smoking, the methylation regions of DNA returned to normal levels of non-smokers within five years after stopping smoking. However, some DNA methylation regions persist even after 30 years.

Smoking greatly affects DNA even after quitting.(Illustration).

After decades of quitting, many smokers still suffer from long-term risks of dangerous diseases such as cancer, chronic pulmonary obstruction, stroke .

The most statistically significant methylation regions show that they are linked to genes involved in many diseases caused by cigarette smoke, such as cardiovascular disease and some cancers. DNA methylation can be an important sign of a person's smoking history, leading scientists to find new treatments.

In the study, the researchers studied comparing methylated DNA regions in the human genome of 16,000 human blood samples. They compared DNA methylation regions of people who were smoking with people who never smoked.

The smokers' methylation region is linked to more than 7,000 genes, one-third of all human genes. Scientists believe that some of these long-term methylation regions could cause gene damage, leaving long-term drug users at risk of increased disease.