Impact of socio-economic traditions on current tobacco and tea addictions (Siberia 17^th to 20^th century)

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate how tobacco and tea spread among virgin populations and how the first addictions have subsequently influenced the behavior of present-day populations.DesignRetrospective observational study using data from frozen burials and levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine measured in hair samples from frozen bodies of autochthonous people. Confrontation of the results with new ethnobotanical, historical and cultural data from the past and with present day epidemiological data from the same region.SettingEastern Siberia (Yakutia) from the contact with Europeans (17th century) to the assimilation of people into Russian society (19th century).Participants47 frozen bodies of autochthonous people from eastern Siberia and a review of present-day populations from YakutiaInterventionLevels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine were measured in hair samples. Along with the collection of cultural data associated with the bodies, potential comorbidities were investigated.Main outcome measureWe combined LC-HRMS and LC-MS/MS tools for toxicological investigations in hair and we assessed the association between xenobiotic concentrations and geography using several permutation-based methods to infer the economic circuits of tobacco and tea. Comparison of the results obtained with ethno-botanical analyses allowed to identify the products from which the metabolites were derived.ResultsHair levels of theobromine, theophylline and caffeine vary with the type of beverage consumed: green, black or local herbal teas. At the beginning of our study period, a few heavy consumers of tobacco were found among light or passive consumers. Tobacco-related co-morbidities began to be recorded one century after contact with Europeans. Heavy tea users were only found from the 19th century and the heaviest users of the two substances date from this century. After the first contact, teas were widely consumed as beverages and medicines but also for shamanic reasons. Economic factors, fashion and social and family contacts seem to have played a decisive role in tobacco consumption very early on.ConclusionEpidemiological characteristics of present-day Yakutia suggest that the high prevalence of smokers and tea consumers, the prevalence of female smokers and tobacco use in the north, find their origins in the diffusion phenomena of the 18th and 19th century. Behavioral evolution governed the process of substance integration and was determinant for the continuity of use of these substances over a long period of time.

Sucrose Is Not the Whole Story: Risk Factors and Oral Health at the Contact (Yakutia, Siberia-16th/19th)

“…Others may have existed, but we have no elements to evoke them, such as changes in biofilms formations [73], plaque-induced gingivitis [74] and gene expression, which benefit today from stem cells implantation [75,76]. These three processes concern a general process of diminished immunity which can be evoked in the face of certain chronic infectious pathologies: (1) an addiction to tobacco in the 19th century associated with an increase in the consumption of black tea and no longer green tea, which was drunk in the 18th century [77]. While some people smoked in the 18th century, in the 19th century, tobacco became widespread [77] and a large part of the population, even older children, became addicted to it [78].…”

“…These three processes concern a general process of diminished immunity which can be evoked in the face of certain chronic infectious pathologies: (1) an addiction to tobacco in the 19th century associated with an increase in the consumption of black tea and no longer green tea, which was drunk in the 18th century [77]. While some people smoked in the 18th century, in the 19th century, tobacco became widespread [77] and a large part of the population, even older children, became addicted to it [78]. There is a strong, dose-dependent association between tobacco smoking and risk of tooth loss [79] and, in present day populations, with a significantly greater number of implant failures [80].…”

“…There is a strong, dose-dependent association between tobacco smoking and risk of tooth loss [79] and, in present day populations, with a significantly greater number of implant failures [80]. Exposure to smoke has been associated with caries in several studies, with mechanisms relating to alterations in saliva [81] and the number of missing teeth being higher among smokers of pipes [82], which was the case among the Yakuts [77]. Moreover, in the 19th century, the consumption of green tea, associated in some studies with a decrease in tooth loss [83], disappeared in favor of black tea [77].…”

“…Exposure to smoke has been associated with caries in several studies, with mechanisms relating to alterations in saliva [81] and the number of missing teeth being higher among smokers of pipes [82], which was the case among the Yakuts [77]. Moreover, in the 19th century, the consumption of green tea, associated in some studies with a decrease in tooth loss [83], disappeared in favor of black tea [77]. There is no evidence suggesting that the Yakuts put sugar in the teas, always consumed today in the countryside, very diluted and without sugar.…”