Skip to page content |

Tiscali Quicklinks. Please visit our Accessibility Page for a list of the Access Keys you can use to find your way around the site, skip directly to the main navigation, to the page content, or to more links within lifestyle.

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends

Content Starts Here


Smoking - health risks

Health and Nutrition > Health Centres

Smoking - health risks


Reviewed by Dr Gavin Petrie, consultant chest physician



You can eat five portions of fruit and veg a day and exercise regularly, but healthy behaviour means little if you continue to smoke.

The message that 'smoking is bad for you' is an old one, so not everyone gives it their full attention. Below we list the health risks of smoking.

Why quit smoking?

Term watch 'Cardiovascular' means the heart and circulation.

Cardiovascular disease causes:

  • poor circulation
  • angina (chest pains)
  • heart attacks
  • stroke.
  • How do cigarettes damage health?

    Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances.

    When you inhale, a cigarette burns at 700°C at the tip and around 60°C in the core. This heat breaks down the tobacco to produce various toxins.

    As a cigarette burns, the residues are concentrated towards the butt.

    The products that are most damaging are:

  • tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
  • nicotine is addictive and increases cholesterol levels in your body
  • carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
  • components of the gas and particulate phases cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
  • The damage caused by smoking is influenced by:

  • the number of cigarettes smoked
  • whether the cigarette has a filter
  • how the tobacco has been prepared.
  • Smoking affects how long you live

    Research has shown that smoking reduces life expectancy by seven to eight years.

    Did you know? On average, each cigarette shortens a smoker's life by around 11 minutes.

    Major diseases caused by smoking

    Cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death due to smoking.

    Hardening of the arteries is a process that develops over years, when cholesterol and other fats deposit in the arteries, leaving them narrow, blocked or rigid. When the arteries narrow (atherosclerosis), blood clots are likely to form.

    Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing process in your arteries: it starts earlier and blood clots are two to four times more likely.

    Cardiovasular disease can take many forms depending on which blood vessels are involved, and all of them are more common in people who smoke.

    A fatal disease Blood clots in the heart and brain are the most common causes of sudden death.

    Cancer

    Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect non-smokers.

    The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear.

  • Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.
  • If no-one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis - only 0.5 per cent of people who've never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer.
  • One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes a day) will die of lung cancer.
  • The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking.

    For ex-smokers, it takes approximately 15 years before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.

    If you smoke, the risk of contracting mouth cancer is four times higher than for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips.

    Other types of cancer that are more common in smokers are:

  • bladder cancer
  • cancer of the oesophagus
  • cancer of the kidneys
  • cancer of the pancreas
  • cervical cancer
  • COPD

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as:

    Term watch Chronic means long term, not severe.



    Go To Next Page>>



    The documents contained in this web site are presented for information purposes only. The material is in no way intended to replace professional medical care or attention by a qualified practitioner. The materials in this web site cannot and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment. Conditions for use

    Powered by netdoctor

    © Copyright 1998 - 2004 NetDoctor.co.uk - All rights reserved

    Health Search
    Search all
    Diseases
    Medicines
     
     

    Advertisement starts



    Advertisement ends

    Page Footer