Myths & Facts About Smoking

Despite a general understanding that smoking is an addiction and that quitting could be a good idea, there is still a a lot of misinformation and outright ignorance about its dangers. In a 2008 report projecting a billion deaths from tobacco use over the next century, the World Health Organization (WHO) cited a need for governments to warn their populations about the dangers of tobacco as one of the strategies to put the brakes on what WHO called a global epidemic. WHO says that tobacco use is common in the world because of "a lack of awareness about its dangers," among other reasons.

Cancer

• It's a myth that the only cancer that smoking causes is lung cancer. The fact is that smoking causes many kinds of cancers, including those, like colon cancer, that might seem unrelated to a smoking addiction. Besides causing most lung cancer deaths, smoking also causes most of the cases of bladder, pharynx, esophagus and larynx cancer. Other cancers that smoking can cause include kidney cancer, stomach cancer, cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer and acute myeloid leukemia.

Disease

• It's a myth that heart disease and stroke are the only health concerns besides cancer that smokers have to worry about. The fact is that smoking damages nearly all organs in your body. This includes the digestive system with consequences that can include ulcers, heartburn and Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that can occur anywhere in the digestive tract, from the small intestine to the colon. The liver, too, is damaged by smoking, which interferes with the liver's ability to remove toxins from the body. Smoking can also make liver disease worse. Bones, too, are hurt by smoking and those who use end up with a reduction in bone mass and a greater risk of osteoporosis.

Weight Gain

• It's a myth that quitting smoking automatically means you'll gain weight. The fact is, not everyone that quits puts on extra pounds. When former smokers do gain weight, it is usually to the tune of only 6 to 8 pounds, though about 10 percent of people who quit gain 30 or more pounds. A smoked cigarette temporarily makes your body burn more calories (while also harming your heart). However, after you quit, you're burning only slightly fewer calories per day than you did while smoking.

Light Cigarettes

• It's a myth that cigarettes with less tar and/or nicotine are better for your health than regular cigarettes. Sold as light cigarettes, low-tar, mild or ultra-light, low-yield cigarettes have filter holes that dilute smoke as a smoking machine tests the smoke, yielding the data that some smokers believe make them better to use. Unfortunately, smokers can inadvertently close up the filter holes with their fingers or mouth. Smokers that don't accidentally do this tend to compensate for less nicotine by smoking more or inhaling more deeply. The National Cancer Institute has found that low-yield cigarettes provide no protection against the harmful effects of smoking.

Benefits of Quitting

• It's a myth that once you've smoked for a long time or have gotten past a certain age, quitting smoking won't matter. It's true that quitting before age 30 cuts your chances of dying from smoking-related disease by 90 percent. Also, quitting before age 50 halves your chance of dying in the next 15 years from smoking-related causes. But benefits to quitting always remain. Within 20 minutes of smoking your last cigarette, heart rate drops. In 12 hours, carbon monoxide levels have normalized in your blood. One year in, the risk of coronary heart disease is halved. Five to fifteen years in, stroke risk becomes that of a nonsmoker. The healing continues for years.