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Health Effects of Tobacco on Kids

Using tobacco can cause health effects in teens, whether through smoking or through chewing tobacco. Up to 4,000 American youth try cigarettes each day, with 11 percent of high school youth trying cigarettes before the age of 13, states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Besides causing serious health problems, tobacco use can lead to addiction because of the additives contained in smoking products and chewing tobacco.

  1. Appearance

    • Smoking not only causes bad breath and stained teeth, it also causes your appearance to change. Inhalation of smoke constricts your blood vessels. This causes a depletion of oxygen levels, which causes your skin to become pale and dry. According to the CDC, you can develop mouth sores, a bleeding mouth and cracked lips from short-term smoking. Chewing tobacco can lead to oral cancer of the mouth. As a result, affected skin will need to be removed to get rid of the cancer.

    Respiratory Issues

    • Your lung capacity will reduce as a result of tobacco use. Even the rate of lung growth becomes stunted by smoking, reports the World Health Organization. You will run out of breath three times more often than a nonsmoker. You will also produce more phlegm than a nonsmoker. If you're an athlete, your performance can become impaired by tobacco use.

    Illness

    • Smoking causes the inability of your immune system to ward off infections and illnesses, such as a cold or flu. If you have asthma, the use of tobacco can cause your illness to become worse. Girls who use birth control increase their risk of developing heart problems when they smoke. If you smoke to manage weight, you deplete your body of vitamins, according to KidsHealth. If you continue to use tobacco, you can develop cancer.

    Other Effects

    • Eventually, the use of tobacco leads to bone density loss. This increases your odds of developing osteoporosis. Smoking may cause fertility issues among both girls and boys. Smoking slows down the production of collagen, a substance necessary when healing injuries. If you damage a joint or tendon, it will take longer for your injury to heal. You can develop heartburn, ulcers, liver damage, yellowed fingernails, wrinkles and gum disease.

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