The World Health Organization defines smoking as “smoking any form of tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc. and excluding smokeless tobacco.” In their recent studies they have stated that over 5 million people die each year from the use of tobacco products. The reason for this is the high quantity of chemicals that is absorbed into the body when these products are used.

The average cigarette contains releases over 4000 of these chemicals, 250 of which are harmful to the body, of which at least 50 of them have been proven to be cancer forming.  Cancer, heart and lung diseases are the most common ailments associated with smoking, but it is, by no means, restricted to that. Virtually no part of the body is free from the potential harmful effects of smoking.

Types of cancer that have been found to be caused by smoking range from lung and throat cancer to pancreatic and bone marrow cancer. The cancer is caused through the direct absorption of the chemicals into the body which then adversely affect DNA and other genes that later creates the cancerous cells.

Heart disease is more commonly found in smokers than in non-smokers, with an increased chance of suffering from strokes and heart attacks. Chemicals released into the body through smoking, in particular nicotine, constrict the blood flow to the heart by reducing the width of blood vessels. Some of the smaller blood vessels in the human body are found in the heart and brain, and when constricted can no longer transport oxygen to the organ and causes it to fail and thus causing the heart attack or stroke. Read the rest of this entry »