If the risk of lung cancer from smoking is low, is it unnecessary to persuade people to quit smoking?
It is said that smoking causes cancer, but in real life, it is not difficult to find that only a few smokers eventually develop lung cancer, and even nicotine, the main ingredient in cigarettes, is not a carcinogen.
Stanton Glantz, a leading professor in the field of tobacco research in the BBC documentary, bluntly stated that the symptoms of tobacco cancer are insufficient, and the biggest harm is addiction.
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In 2017, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clarified Announced: No direct causal relationship between nicotine and cancer.
In 2005, an article on China Government Network pointed out that nicotine is not carcinogenic, but has the potential to become a specific drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and depression.
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Nicotine is not a carcinogen. Is it wrong to say that smoking is harmful to health and causes cancer?
I. Cold Knowledge: Out of 100 smokers, only a few suffer from cancer
British Journal of Cancer A study was published that analyzed the relationship between smoking frequency and lung cancer incidence and mortality. Studies have shown that long-term smokers have a 16% risk of developing lung cancer, which is more than 50 times that of non-smokers; people who smoke more than 5 cigarettes per day have a 25% chance of dying from lung cancer by the age of 75.
Converting the unit of this study to 100 people, it can be known that among the 100 people who smoke >5 cigarettes per day, 25 people will die of lung cancer.
If you don’t believe foreign research, we also have relevant research in China. In 2009, a study published in the International Journal of Respiratory Medicine by 306 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army,
strong>It was found that only 10%-20% of smokers developed lung cancer, and the proportion was even lower.
Looking at the research, it seems that the number of people with lung cancer caused by smoking is not many, is this because of the reason? The reason is in human genes.
Shen Hongbing, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said, Lung cancer is a complex disease, which is the result of the combined action of environmental and genetic factors. Although most lung cancers are attributable to tobacco exposure, few smokers actually develop lung cancer, suggesting a genetic predisposition to individual responses to environmental exposures. Everyone’s genetic susceptibility to lung cancer is different. The more susceptibility points in the body, the higher the risk.
At this time, someone will say, hasn’t it been said that smoking causes cancer? Now that the research has come out, it turns out that smokers don’t get many cancers, so the idea that smoking is harmful to health is a wrong concept, is it really true? 2. Is it wrong to smoke harmful to health and cause cancer? Although only a small number of smokers suffer from cancer, most of the lung cancer patients are smokers. “Primary Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Standards” and “Chinese Clinical Smoking Cessation Guidelines” both point out that more than 85% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with lung cancer. are closely related to smoking.
What everyone should understand is that in addition to nicotine, there are many carcinogenic and harmful substances in tobacco, and these substances cannot cause harm to the body. ignore.
1. Tar
Tar can cause cancer, and when it enters the body, it will induce mutations in human cells and inhibit the exertion of immune function. At the same time, it also increases the speed of hardening and loss of elasticity of arteries, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
2. Nitrosamines
The specific nitrosamines in tobacco can cause DNA damage after entering the body. In addition, nitrosamines can also bind to hemoglobin and induce gene mutation, which can induce DNA alkylation damage and increase the risk of cancer.
3. Smoking free radicals
Gas-phase free radicals will attack cell membranes and cause delipidation peroxidation, leading to the inactivation of α1 antiprotease, and then causing lung damage. And free radicals have strong oxidative properties and will attack normal cells in the body.
4. Nitric oxides
Nitric oxide will produce nitric oxide hemoglobin and enter the body It can cause body poisoning. Nitric oxide and nitrogen oxides are precursors of nitrosamines produced during smoking, which can cause damage to the respiratory tract and can also cause poisoning when combined with hemoglobin.
5. Benzene
After entering the body, benzene can cause symptoms such as fatigue, anemia and neurasthenia. spasms.
In addition to causing great harm to the body, the harmful substances contained in cigarettes are also addictive due to nicotine. Long-term smoking will not only cause cancer, but also bring many kinds of harm to the body. 3. In addition to carcinogenicity, smoking has many hazards
1. Cardiovascular disease
The nicotine and carbon monoxide contained in tobacco Compared with non-smokers, smokers have a three-fold increased risk of hypertension and a three-fold increased risk of myocardial ischemia.
2. Decreased digestive function
Smoking will reduce the secretion of gastric juice. Smoking a cigarette will slow down the peristalsis of the stomach and stop it for 15 minutes. that’s a lotThe reason why people feel less hungry after smoking. Smoking also doubled the incidence of chronic gastritis and 12 times of the incidence of duodenal ulcer.
3. Damage the brain, nerves
Smoking makes the nervous system excited for a short time, and then There will be long-term inhibition. Long-term smoking will lead to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, which in turn induces symptoms such as dizziness, headache, and long-term insomnia.
4. Affecting children’s development
Children’s development and intelligence are also affected by parental smoking. Smoking of pregnant women can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, and spontaneous abortion rate< strong>Twice the increase, and the weight of the fetus after birth is also low. The father’s smoking also affects the fetus, and the risk of congenital malformations in the fetus will be greatly increased. Fathers who smoked 20 cigarettes a day had a significantly increased risk of hydrocephalus, cleft lip, and congenital heart disease, increased mortality within 1 year of life, and had better fetal intelligence Smoking households are lower.
This is probably because the carbon monoxide produced by the burning of tobacco will lead to insufficient oxygen supply for pregnant women and fetuses, and some harmful substances in tobacco will enter the fetus with the mother’s blood circulation.
Smoking not only harms yourself, but also seriously threatens the health of the next generation. Are you still planning to quit smoking? It is worth reminding that if some long-term smokers have these symptoms, I advise you to quit smoking immediately.
Fourth, long-term smokers have these symptoms, quit smoking as soon as possible Relatedly, when a tumor grows in or near the bronchi, it can cause the body to experience a violent cough.
2. Hoarseness
When the recurrent laryngeal nerve is invaded by the tumor, or the lymph node metastasis of the cancer compresses the recurrent laryngeal nerve, it will cause a voice Hoarseness and difficulty speaking.
3. Chest pain
The lesion presses against the sternum, ribs, or grows into the chest wall, which may cause Causes unusual pain in the chest.
4. Enlarged fingers
Some lung cancer patients will have “clubbing fingers”. The fingers and toes look like a club. This is a common pulmonary hypertrophic joint disease and one of the external manifestations of lung cancer. But this does not mean that some smokers who do not have symptoms do not need to quit smoking. No matter how long they smoke and how much they smoke, they should quit smoking as soon as possible. As long as you quit smoking, you can benefit your body, and the sooner you quit smoking, the greater the benefits.
There is no doubt that smoking is harmful to health. After reading the above, people who are smoking are sure not to put down their cigarettes? Can you really afford the harm that smoking brings to your body? Reference: [1]Single-cell analysis of somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelial cells in relation to aging and smoking[J]. Nature Genetics.
[2]Zhao Mingxiang, Huang Zekun, Zhang Jun, Li Dekun , Li Xingxing. Main types, effects and reduction measures of endogenous harmful components of tobacco[J]. New Agriculture, 2022(06):17-19.
[3]Ouyang Jun. ——A comprehensive view of the harm of smoking [J]. Health Monthly, 2021, 42(01): 4-7.
[4]Southern Medical University: Genetic code unlocks Chinese people’s “lung cancer risk”. Xinhuanet. 2019.12.30
[5] Wang Ruijuan, Wang Ping, Zhang Jianzhong. Epidemiology, etiology and molecular biology of lung cancer in non-smokers [J]. International Journal of Respiratory Medicine, 2009, 29(16) :1007-1010