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A new research reported evidence that tobacco smoking reduces Parkinson's disease risk.

The new study shows a relationship between reduced risk of Parkinson's disease and smoking. So, the protective effect lowers after smokers quit.

Evan L. Thacker from Harvard School of Public Health said: “It is not our intent to promote smoking as a protective measure against Parkinson's disease. Obviously smoking has a multitude of negative consequences. Rather, we did this study to try to encourage other scientists...to consider the possibility that neuroprotective chemicals may be present in tobacco leaves.”

Thacker and his team analyzed data of detailed lifetime smoking histories. 79,977 women and 63,348 men participated in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort during about 9 years. People who had never lighted up had “normal” Parkinson’s disease risk, former smokers had a 22 % lower risk of Parkinson’s disease and current smokers had a 73 % lower risk.

Thacker said: “The results were similar for men and women, and were also similar to the results of studies by many other researchers looking at the same topic. A 30 percent to 60 percent decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease was apparent for smoking as early as 15 to 24 years before symptom onset, but not for smoking 25 or more years before onset.”

“The results of our study,” Thacker added, “can probably be explained by something in cigarettes, most likely in the tobacco itself, actually protecting people against getting Parkinson's disease. That would be the simplest explanation that makes the most sense.”

The investigators say: “The observation that smokeless tobacco users also have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease suggests that the most likely candidates are not compounds generated by combustion, but rather constituents of the tobacco leaves.”