Kick the Habit with Nature's Help

(Page 3 of 3)

June/July 2002
by James A. Duke  
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Fava beans (Vicia faba). As one of the best dietary sources of 1-dopa, converted to dopamine in the brain, fava beans might help alleviate your nicotine cravings. I came to this conclusion after Italian scientists showed that within the brain, the shell area of the nucleus accumbens, which plays an important role in emotions, is affected by dopamine. Dopamine is linked to the euphoria created by addictive drugs. Nicotine also boosts dopamine, leading Roy Wise of Concordia University, Montreal, to comment, "We should either downgrade heroin to habit-forming, or upgrade nicotine to addicting."

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Bupropion is an expensive drug, a dopamine-enhancer, which already has U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use in programs to help people quit smoking. Fava beans and their cousins, velvet beans, might be cheaper, safer and more effective.

Turmeric (Curcuma long). West Coast herbalist Kathi Keville, co-author of Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to Healing Arts tells of chronic smokers who took turmeric daily as part of a research project at the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, India. Those who took turmeric eliminated three to eight times more carcinogens from their bodies as smokers who took no turmeric. Keville cited a Rutgers University study that speculates even small amounts of thyme, basil and turmeric can reduce one's risk of cancer. If I were still a smoker, I'd be sure and eat plenty of cunies, and some great basil pesto while I was at it.

Avoiding cigarettes and cigarette smoke in the first place is the first line of defense, so if you can quit you may be saving your own life and the lives you love. In the meantime, give your body a fighting chance with some of nature's boosters.

Look for more excerpts from James Duke's The Green Pharmacy (See MOTHER's Bookshelf, Page 103) in future issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. One of the world's leading authorities on herbal healing, Duke is author of The Green PharmacyAnti-Aging Prescriptions. Active in rain forest preservation, he regularly leads ecotours in the Amazon. Contact him at jduke@father naturesfarmacy.com.

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