Smoking – health risks

Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances.

You can eat five portions of fruit or veg a day and exercise regularly – but healthy behaviour means little if you continue to smoke.

The message that 'smoking is bad for you' is an old one, so not everyone gives it their full attention.
Below we list the health risks of smoking.

Why quit smoking?

Most people know that smoking can cause lung cancer, but it can also cause many other cancers and illnesses.
Smoking directly causes over 100,000 deaths in the UK each year and contributes to many more.
Of these deaths, about 42,800 are from smoking-related cancers, 30,600 from cardiovascular disease and 29,100 die slowly from emphysema and other chronic lung diseases.

How do cigarettes damage health?

Term watch

‘Cardiovascular’ means the heart and circulation.
Cardiovascular disease causes:

• poor circulation
• angina (chest pains)
• heart attacks
• stroke.

Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances.
When you inhale, a cigarette burns at 700°C at the tip and around 60°C in the core. This heat breaks down the tobacco to produce various toxins.
As a cigarette burns, the residues are concentrated towards the butt.
The products that are most damaging are:

• tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
• nicotine is addictive and increases cholesterol levels in your body
• carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
• components of the gas and particulate phases cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).

The damage caused by smoking is influenced by:

• the number of cigarettes smoked
• whether the cigarette has a filter
• how the tobacco has been prepared.