Hi, just thought I would post this info I received from a lady via my email regarding this thread about my smoking and the interesting discussion here. Read below:

i saw in one person's post about the 10 fold reduction in alzheimer's. the
reason for this is because smoking causes a chemical compound called
acetylcholine. it is depleted in people with alzheimer's.

you often here that smokers smoke to calm themselves down, and that has never
made much sense because we know nicotene to be a stimulant, right? well, the
acetylcholine is what produces the calming effects. actually, what it does is
minimizes stimuli to the brain from outside influences, allowing the person to
focus better on the task at hand or focus better on one thought at a time.

BUT, the same acetylcholine is produced by taking B-5 and choline together (plus
it produces muscle tone, perty cool side effect). so, if a person would take
those instead of smoking, they would get the same stress relieving calming
effects they get from cigarettes.

i have known about this since 1986 when i read Life Extension by durk pearson
and sandy shaw. i prefer phosphatidyl choline myself. incidentally, B-5 is
used for arthritis and i went many years having to take it 4 times a day just to
keep the pain down some. it works well. i still use it with the choline every
day, generally.