Summary: New research suggests a direct link between smoking and brain damage. Scientists have found that a compound in tobacco provokes white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage.

Does smoking damage your brain?

Loss of brain volume

Researchers found that smoking negatively affected the structural integrity of subcortical brain regions. They also found that smokers, compared to nonsmokers, had greater amounts of age-related brain volume loss in several areas of the brain.

Do Cigarettes kill brain cells?

Nicotine can kill brain cells and stop new ones forming in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory, says a French team. The finding might explain the cognitive problems experienced by many heavy smokers during withdrawal, they say.