In major health news, the American Cancer Society recently released a new study that found that half of cancer deaths (and 40% of new cancer cases among adults ages 30 and older in the U.S.) can be attributed to preventable risk factors.
Can you guess what the biggest risk factor for cancer is? It’s something even worse for health than drinking alcohol or being sedentary. It’s smoking . The latest research says that this one habit is the leading risk factor contributing to cancer cases and death related to cancer.
If you’ve been smoking for decades, you may be wondering if it’s still worth quitting. And what about vaping? Keep reading to find out what experts specializing in cancer prevention have to say.
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Why Smoking Causes More Than Lung Cancer
Most people likely know that smoking can cause lung cancer . But you may be surprised to learn that it’s attributed to 15 other types of cancer too. Dr. Tracy Crane, PhD, RDN , the Director of Lifestyle Medicine, Prevention and Digital Health at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the co-lead of the Cancer Control Program , says this includes mouth, breast, liver, stomach, kidney, pancreas, bowel, ovary, bladder and cervix cancers as well as some types of leukemia.
Dr. Edward Creagan, MD, FAAHPM, a cancer specialist who practiced at Mayo Clinic for more than 40 years, explains that the reason why smoking can cause so many different types of cancer is that it causes DNA cells to mutate. Cigarette smoke contains more than 5,000 chemicals, including 60 known carcinogens that can damage DNA. When DNA is damaged, cells can grow, multiply and become cancerous.
Related: The One Thing Experts Say You Should Never, Ever Do if You Want to Lower Your Risk of Breast Cancer
“When you smoke, you are inhaling all of these chemicals into your lungs and while the immediate impact is on the exposure to your mouth, throat and lung tissue, because your lungs supply oxygen to the rest of the body, these carcinogens are transported throughout the body with some tissues more susceptible than others to DNA damage, thereby increasing cancer risk,” Dr. Crane explains.
What about vaping? Both experts say that while it’s too early to know the long-term impact of vaping, preliminary research shows that it’s extremely harmful to health. “ Vaping and e-cigarette ingredients include volatile organic compounds , propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavoring chemicals, ultrafine particles and formaldehyde that are associated with heart and lung disease as well as cancer. In addition, several studies have demonstrated unfavorable gene expressions associated with cancer in both people who smoke and people who vape,” Dr. Crane says.
Dr. Creagan emphasizes this point, saying, “There is no question that vaping contains toxic compounds about which we know very little. We can anticipate the vaping population of today being the cancer population 30 years from now.”
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Is It Worth Quitting Smoking if You’ve Been Doing It For Decades?
If you’re a smoker, it’s likely you’ve already heard repeatedly that it’s harmful to health. But maybe you’ve been doing it for so long that you don’t see any point in quitting. Both experts say that no matter how long you’ve been a smoker, quitting is absolutely worth it and will drastically impact your health for the better.
“There is overwhelming data that the risk of lung cancer decreases by 50% after quitting smoking, even for individuals who smoked for 10 years or more,” Dr. Creagan says. “There is no question that by stopping smoking, you increase your chances of not dying from cancer.”
What’s miraculous about the body, specifically the lungs, is that it can heal itself. Dr. Creagan explains that this is done through cell turnover. “In the absence of the carcinogens in tobacco, cells can have a relatively normal lifespan,” he says.
While quitting smoking or vaping (or never doing it in the first place) goes a long way in lowering one’s cancer risk, adopting other healthy lifestyle habits help lower the risk too. The new American Cancer Society study says that maintaining a healthy weight , minimizing alcohol consumption , minimizing red meat consumption , eating lots of fruits, vegetables and other fiber-rich foods, getting enough calcium, being active and protecting yourself from UV rays are all important ways to lower your risk of cancer significantly.
Next up, find out what an oncologist likes to snack on, with cancer prevention in mind.
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