Half A Million People Die Of Tobacco Use, But Some Are More At Risk

The US Surgeon General Vivek H Murthy released a report on tobacco-related disease and death, addressing health disparities. "Tobacco use imposes a heavy toll on families across generations. Now is the time to accelerate our efforts to create a world in which zero lives are harmed by or lost to tobacco,” he said.

As per the report, "Smoking has declined more than 70% in the United States since 1965. However, progress achieved through improvements in tobacco-related policies, regulations, programs, research, clinical care, and other areas, has not resulted in the same outcomes across all U.S. population groups."

The HHS Secretary for Health Xavier Bacerra said that tobacco use continues to decline, however it still remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. He also reflected on the fact that progress is still not across all populations and communities.

As per Dr Mickey Mehta, also associated with prominent hospitals and organizations, including Jaslok Hospital, Asian Cancer Institute, and Tata Memorial, "Smoking rapidly increases insulin resistance; a primary characteristic feature of the disease type 2 diabetes. Nicotine and other chemicals in cigarette smoke impair the body's capacity to utilize its own insulin appropriately. Eventually, that makes it difficult to regulate blood sugar level by causing hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), one among the most common side effects of diabetes."

Your lung contains around 500 million tiny air sacks, known as alveoli that pull oxygen from the air when you breathe and releases carbon dioxide when you exhale. Smoking destroys these air sacks by killing the cells that line them, thus causing your lung to damage, overtime.

Lung cancer is also the most common cancer worldwide and claims around 1.8 million lives each year. The study also mentioned that by reducing smoking rates to 5% by 2050, it could extend life expectancy by one year for men and 0.2 years for women. It could actually lead to saving 876 million years of life, if the number of men and women is combined.

Murthy also pointed out that nearly half a million people each year lose their life due to smoking and secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoking.

Passive smoking occurs when a non-smoker inhales smoke released by someone else's tobacco product, such as a cigarette or cigar. This exposure is harmful because the smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, of which at least 70 are known carcinogens.

The toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke can cause genetic mutations in lung cells, leading to cancer. Passive smoke contains the same cancer-causing agents as directly inhaled smoke. When non-smokers are repeatedly exposed, these harmful substances accumulate in the lungs, damaging cells and causing inflammation. Prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke can weaken the respiratory system, which leads to conditions where cancer is more likely to develop. Research shows that non-smokers regularly exposed to smoke are as likely to develop lung cancer as smokers who smoke about one to two cigarettes daily.