Time to quit the Cubans? Cigars may be as bad as cigarettes

Time to quit the Cubans? Cigars may be as bad as cigarettes
Bloomberg
Saturday, November 08, 2014 10:43Email Print

Cigar smokers have elevated levels of potentially cancer-causing
ingredients in their blood and urine, a study from the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration found.
Cigars may be as bad for your health as cigarettes, particularly among
experienced smokers who deeply inhale the toxic substances they contain.
Cigar smokers have elevated levels of potentially cancer-causing
ingredients in their blood and urine, a study from the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration found. The amount of NNAL, a carcinogen which comes
only from tobacco, was as high in daily cigar smokers as those who
regularly smoke cigarettes, according to the report in Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
While cigar aficionados are supposed to puff rather than inhale, studies
show they breathe smoke particles into their lungs even when they think
they aren't inhaling.
"There is no safe level of cigar smoking," said Jiping Chen, the lead
author and an epidemiologist in the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.
"Even cigar smokers who don't smoke every day are exposed to
substantially higher levels of toxic compounds."
The FDA is planning to expand its tobacco regulation to include cigars
and e-cigarettes, a move that will likely ban sales to minors and
require addiction warnings. The study, involving investigation of 25,522
people, confirms earlier findings that cigar smoking can cause cancer,
heart disease and early death.
13 billion cigars
"It's important the public receives clear and consistent messaging from
public health authorities about the health risks of smoking," said Simon
Evans, a spokesman for Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, the world's biggest
cigar maker. "Adults should be guided by those messages when deciding
whether or not to smoke."
Americans smoked more than 13 billion cigars in 2010, double the 6.2
billion consumed in 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Young adults and teenagers appear particularly
taken, with 16 percent of those ages 18 to 24 saying they smoked a cigar
within the past month.


Workers make cigars in Havana, Cuba.
They may be under the misperception that cigars are less dangerous and
less addictive than cigarettes, perhaps because the smoke is more
irritating and harder to inhale, the researchers said.
Cherry flavors
Younger smokers are also attracted by the way some cigars are made and
marketed, said Joanna Cohen, a professor of disease prevention and
director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health. They often contain flavors like grape
and cherry that are popular with youth and can be sold one at a time,
making them more affordable, she said.
"When people say cigars, you think of the traditional big Cuban cigar
that men generally smoke around poker games," said Cohen, who wasn't
involved in the study. "But cigarillos, these small cigars, are what's
popular among youths. They are easily accessible with youth-oriented
flavors, and that's one of the big concerns."
Despite the booming demand for cigars, studies examining exposure to
their toxic ingredients have fallen far short of the extensive research
into cigarettes. Even with less investigation, it's known that cigar
smokers are more vulnerable than non-smokers to lung, pancreas and
bladder cancer, as well as heart and lung disease.
Risky habit
The results may quantify the risks of cigars and help implement
regulations that address the "alarming" issue of cigar smoking,
especially among young people, the researchers said. Efforts should be
made to prevent people from starting cigar smoking and to encourage
others to quit, they said.
In the study, cigar aficionados had higher levels than non-smokers of
cotinine, cadmium, lead and NNAL, all potential cancer-causing agents or
toxic substances that have been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory
complications. Those who had stopped smoking cigarettes and picked up
cigars had significantly higher levels of cotinine, a metabolite of
nicotine, and NNAL, a byproduct of the cancer-causing agent NNK.
The results stem from the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey conducted from 1999 through 2012. It's the first to examine
markers of health among cigar smokers in the U.S. The findings covered
all types of cigars, including cigarillos and premium cigars.
The risk of routine smoking may even be higher than the study indicates
because the researchers couldn't filter the data to leave out people who
enjoyed cigars only occasionally. The study also found that former
cigarette smokers were more vulnerable, perhaps because they were more
likely to deeply inhale the cigar smoke.
"These are terrible things to have in your body," Cohen said. "Any
exposure to these chemicals isn't going to be good for you, and the
longer the exposure and the higher the exposure, the worse it is."

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