A/Prof Bittoun gave one of the most useful workshops I have ever done at the recent Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine conference on smoking cessation. I had to interview her to share some of the principles with you. 

With 15% of Australians still smoking and 21% in disadvantaged areas - this is still a major disease determinant - but were the people who have already quit the low hanging fruit?  Why is it so hard for the rest to stop?

Today we cover some incredibly important and interesting content:

1. Renee shares some of her history in dealing with "Big Tobacco"

2. Smoking history

3. Nicotine physiology - positive and negative effects of nicotine, withdrawal effects, fast vs slow metabolisers, bell curve of blood nicotine levels, effect on liver metabolism, blood glucose and medication

4. Nicotine replacement therapy - when to use, how to use, how to increase, how long to use and how to reduce

5. Champix (varenicline) use - the EAGLES trial and use with NRT

6. Brief mentions of behaviour change (we ran out of time!)

Further reading:

http://aascp.org.au/health-professionals/resources/guidelines/