UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: In this presentation, we discuss the relationship between tobacco consumption, levels of known carcinogens in Nigerian tobacco and the current incidence of tobacco-related diseases in the country vis-à-vis the results of our ongoing investigation on cancer chemopreventive polyphenols in Nigerian medicinal plants and foodstuffs

Methods: Ten popular brands of cigarettes on the Nigerian market were analysed for Tobacco- specific Nitrosamines (TSNA) in Tobacco and in mainstream smoke, as well as nitrate in tobacco. TSNA was analysed using a gas chromatography-thermal energy analyser(GC-TEA), while nitrate was determined spectrophotometrically as nitrite following online reduction with copper, diozatization with sulphanilamide and coupling with N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine to form an azo dye.

Results: In mainstream smoke, the concentration of NNN, NAB-NAT were respectively between 8 and 90ng, 10 and 65ng and between 15 and 72ng per cigarette. Preformed NNN ranged between 64 and 565ng per cigarette, while preformed NAB-NAT and NNK ranged respectively from 109 to 476ng per cigarette and from 55 to 317ng per cigarette. Nitrate levels ranged between 1.5 and 6.15mg/g tobacco. This result suggests that Nigerian tobacco users are exposed to potent carcinogens like tobacco consumers elsewhere. However, because of relatively poor nutrition and high incidence of exacerbating diseases such as urinary tract infection (UTI) and schistosomiasis, the overall impact of tobacco related carcinogens on the Nigerian population may be higher than expected.