Young Female Smokers Face Higher Breast Cancer Risk: New Study
Young women without children face a higher risk of developing breast cancer from smoking, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers speculate that the risk decreases after childbirth, because more fully developed breast tissue may be less vulnerable to damage from carcinogens present in tobacco smoke.
The long-term study involved 56,000 women. Among those who had given birth, the increasing amounts of tobacco they smoked was associated with increased risks of developing breast cancer later in life.
The National Cancer Institute advises that the health benefits of quitting smoking are not only positive, but almost immediate in some cases. They report that, "Almost immediately, a person's circulation begins to improve and the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline. (Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas found in cigarette smoke, reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen.) A person's pulse rate and blood pressure, which may be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few days of quitting, a person's sense of taste and smell return, and breathing becomes increasingly easier."
The 2004 Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking, lists the following benefits of quitting, and corresponding timetables concerning the length of time a former smoker should be free of tobacco to reap the benefits. Compared to those who still smoke:
- "Stroke risk is reduced to that of a person who never smoked after 5 to 15 years of not smoking.
- Cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus risks are halved 5 years after quitting.
- Cancer of the larynx risk is reduced after quitting.
- Coronary heart disease risk is cut by half 1 year after quitting and is nearly the same as someone who never smoked 15 years after quitting.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk of death is reduced after you quit Lung cancer. risk drops by as much as half 10 years after quitting.
- Ulcer risk drops after quitting.
- Bladder cancer risk is halved a few years after quitting.
- Peripheral artery disease goes down after quitting.
- Cervical cancer risk is reduced a few years after quitting.
- Low birth weight baby risk drops to normal if you quit before pregnancy or during your first trimester the benefits of quitting."
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