AFP, TOKYOSmokers can effectively turn back time in their lungs by kicking the habit, with healthy cells emerging to replace some of their tobacco-damaged and cancer-prone ones, a study shows. “But within a few years of quitting, many of the cells lining their airways showed no evidence of damage from tobacco,” he said. Up to 40 percent of the total lung cells in former smokers were healthy, four times more than in their still-smoking counterparts. Campbell said the damaged cells had not been able to “magically repair themselves.”“Rather, they are replaced by healthy cells that have escaped the damage from cigarette smoke,” he said. “Once the person quits smoking, the cells gradually proliferate from this safe harbor to replace the damaged cells,” Campbell said.

Source: Taipei Times January 30, 2020 16:04 UTC