Friday, April 8, 2011

Stomach and Throat Cancers Linked to Smoking

A recent Italian study has found that smokers have an increased risk of certain throat and stomach cancers, even after quitting.  Current smokers’ risk of developing esophageal or gastric cardia (located in the stomach) cancers is two times higher than nonsmokers, and even people who had quit smoking for over three decades still had a heightened risk of esophagus cancer.

What’s more, smoking tied with obesity has led to skyrocketing numbers of esophageal and gastric cardia cancer rates in the U.S. and Europe.

And the risks don’t decrease to nonsmokers’ rates after quitting.  They remain higher, even decades later.  The sooner a person quits smoking, the faster they will receive health benefits, but cancer risks are still decrease slowly, being on average 62% higher in former smokers than lifelong nonsmokers. 

Some people may wonder why they should quit smoking if their risk of cancer is still higher after quitting, but when one compares the cancer rates of former smokers to the rate of current smokers, quitting does have its benefits - especially beyond cancer risk.  Why wait another day to both increase your chance at disease and decrease your overall health?

To learn more click here.

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