Mar 10
In case you are unfamiliar with the term cotinine, it is a metabolite of the well known nicotine. The term “cotinine” is basically an anagram of the term “nicotine”. Cotinine is used to capture a measure of the grade of tobacco smoking however; it may also improve mental function.
The Measure of Smoking
Cotinine has roughly twenty hours of an in vivo half life and it is generally detectable for a couple of days up to a period of one week after tobacco has been used. The cotinine level in the blood is going to be proportionate to the exact amount of exposure to the smoke of the tobacco, so overall; it is a very valuable indicator of the exposure to tobacco smoke which includes secondary smoke. Women that smoke menthol cigarettes are known to retain cotinine in their blood for a much longer period. Race is also known to play a role because black people are known to routinely register higher cotinine levels in the blood than white people are. There are several different variable factors, such as puff size and menthol cigarette preference, which suggest that the basic explanation for the difference that is present can be more complex than just gender and race.
There are some drug tests that will be bale to detect cotinine in the urine, saliva or blood.
Mental Function
Currently, there is some research being done on the effects that cotinine has on cognition and memory. There are some studies that have suggested that nicotine as well as cotinine is able to improve the memory and also prevent neuron death. It is for that exact reason that cotinine has been studied for it’s effectiveness in treating Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease. However, there is also some research that suggests that cotinine and nicotine can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease in many other ways which are known to counter and even negate the possible positive effects that it may have.
Why Should You Have A Cotinine Test?
If you are an individual that is serious about reducing or stopping smoking, or if you are truly interested in the amount of smoke that has been able to enter into your body, the cotinine test will be really useful. Once you know what your cotinine starting level is, you will be able to see just how successful your efforts are going to be to stop smoking.
There are some people that question why aren’t they just ask how much they smoke, well the main reason that they aren’t ask that is because the smoking behavior varies. For instance, you could have two people that smoke around one pack of cigarettes a day and then you have one that may smoke cigarettes that are unfiltered and they inhale deeply with each single puff, while the other may smoke a filtered cigarette that is low in tar and they may puff lightly only smoking half of the entire cigarette. When the cotinine test is performed, it will show the difference in the amount of smoke from the cigarette enters the body of these two different smokers.
