How many cigarettes?
Cigarettes and:
Pre-conception
Pregnancy
Newborn babies
Breastfeeding
Strategies for quitting
Cigarettes mainly contain a substance called tobacco. Tobacco is generally smoked, but some people chew it. Both these habits can cause a variety of serious health problems. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 toxic chemical compounds. At least 43 of these substances are known be 'carcinogenic' (or cause cancer). Two of the most notable substances are nicotine, and a gas called carbon monoxide (the same substance that is emitted from car exhaust fumes).
Smoking is one of the most extensively researched lifestyle habits. The results of these many studies have shown time and again, just how harmful cigarettes are to human health. They have also shown how cigarette smoke can harm the health of others around smokers who inhale the fumes (known as 'passive smoking'). What is also commonly known is how addictive smoking is.
When you smoke tobacco, your blood pressure rises and your stomach produces more acid. Your heart beats faster, but there is a decrease in the blood supply to other parts of your body, such as your hands and feet. Smoking suppresses your appetite and it has been shown that smokers tend to not eat as well, or as much as they should. Smokers typically eat less dietary fibre and less vitamin and minerals (particularly from fruits and vegetables). Also, the oxidants in cigarette smoke accelerate the metabolism of vitamins in the body, depleting a person's vitamin stores. As a consequence, smokers are usually deficient in
vitamin Aand
vitamin Cand
folic acid , (which is interesting, because these vitamins play a protective role in preventing cancer). Smoking also lessens your sense of taste and smell and decreases your lung function.
Long-term smoking can result in a persistent cough, running out of breath, aging more rapidly, yellow staining of your fingers and teeth and being slower to recover from chest infections.