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American Morning
House Call: Low-Nicotine Cigarette
Aired January 29, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new low-nicotine cigarette is hitting stores in seven states. Quest cigarettes are made with a modified tobacco that actually lets smokers choose the level of nicotine.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is along making a "House Call" to look at this project and more.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ZAHN: Good morning.
GUPTA: Yes, genetically-modified cigarettes, so you can actually choose how much nicotine you get -- 17 percent less, 58 percent less or totally free of nicotine. This is made by Vector Tobacco, whose CEO actually was the first to break ranks with a lot of the tobacco companies and actually to acknowledge that nicotine can be addictive. They come one step short of actually calling this a smoking cessation product. It is not. It also does not have any lower effects of carbon monoxide or other possible cancer-causing chemicals. Look for those soon. You're going to see the marketing campaign. But as you mentioned, it's already out there in seven states.
Another story out there as well about sleep. Americans are sleep-deprived. We know that. Thirty-one percent of us get less than six hours. Paula, you probably even get less than that.
ZAHN: Oh, maybe last night that was the case.
GUPTA: Yes, right. And less than six hours. What is the impact of that, less than five hours? Well, there's been a study now on sleep and your heart. They actually looked at 70,000 folks. Look at the numbers there. Five hours or less, a 39 percent increase risk of heart disease. Six hours, 18 percent. And actually getting too much sleep, 9 to 11 hours, actually 38 percent more likely to get heart disease as well.
They still say eight hours is the best number of hours to get in terms of protecting your heart.
ZAHN: What's the linkage though?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting. I asked the same question. They say people who aren't getting enough sleep probably are having irregularities in their blood pressure, irregularities in their blood sugar tolerance, as well as their cortesal (ph) levels, and the overall impact of that long term can have some impact on your heart. As far as too much sleep, it could just be that these people already have some heart disease, and they're having the need to sleep more. And so, the link is sort of backwards there.
ZAHN: That's really interesting.
GUPTA: Yes, it is.
ZAHN: Well, I just wonder if Jack and I get a pass then on the nights we get less than five hours of sleep, in our separate homes I might add, and we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) copy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to say, I'm glad you clarified that.
ZAHN: Two married people, happily married people, to others though.
CAFFERTY: Yes, there you go.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 29, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new low-nicotine cigarette is hitting stores in seven states. Quest cigarettes are made with a modified tobacco that actually lets smokers choose the level of nicotine.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is along making a "House Call" to look at this project and more.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ZAHN: Good morning.
GUPTA: Yes, genetically-modified cigarettes, so you can actually choose how much nicotine you get -- 17 percent less, 58 percent less or totally free of nicotine. This is made by Vector Tobacco, whose CEO actually was the first to break ranks with a lot of the tobacco companies and actually to acknowledge that nicotine can be addictive. They come one step short of actually calling this a smoking cessation product. It is not. It also does not have any lower effects of carbon monoxide or other possible cancer-causing chemicals. Look for those soon. You're going to see the marketing campaign. But as you mentioned, it's already out there in seven states.
Another story out there as well about sleep. Americans are sleep-deprived. We know that. Thirty-one percent of us get less than six hours. Paula, you probably even get less than that.
ZAHN: Oh, maybe last night that was the case.
GUPTA: Yes, right. And less than six hours. What is the impact of that, less than five hours? Well, there's been a study now on sleep and your heart. They actually looked at 70,000 folks. Look at the numbers there. Five hours or less, a 39 percent increase risk of heart disease. Six hours, 18 percent. And actually getting too much sleep, 9 to 11 hours, actually 38 percent more likely to get heart disease as well.
They still say eight hours is the best number of hours to get in terms of protecting your heart.
ZAHN: What's the linkage though?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting. I asked the same question. They say people who aren't getting enough sleep probably are having irregularities in their blood pressure, irregularities in their blood sugar tolerance, as well as their cortesal (ph) levels, and the overall impact of that long term can have some impact on your heart. As far as too much sleep, it could just be that these people already have some heart disease, and they're having the need to sleep more. And so, the link is sort of backwards there.
ZAHN: That's really interesting.
GUPTA: Yes, it is.
ZAHN: Well, I just wonder if Jack and I get a pass then on the nights we get less than five hours of sleep, in our separate homes I might add, and we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) copy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to say, I'm glad you clarified that.
ZAHN: Two married people, happily married people, to others though.
CAFFERTY: Yes, there you go.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
