A Healthy Alternative?
There are many people who chew or dip tobacco, thereby enjoying smokeless tobacco. As far as reasons are concerned, people do this because they have quit smoking and are searching for the alternative or due to many other reasons including their passion for spitting or for the taste of this plant. In fact, smokeless tobacco is absolutely the same as the regular tobacco cigarettes are made of.
Therefore, by chewing or dipping tobacco, you do not only expose your body to the same toxins that are generally present in cigarettes, you also open a whole wide range of diseases and other health problems that you might suffer from. So, basically, you rule out lung cancer and trade it for some other negative effects.
As for the availability and the overall popularity of smokeless tobacco, it all skyrocketed during the 90s. Since making commercials for tobacco is illegal, the companies used baseball stars as their indirect way of spreading the message. Namely, many baseball stars started chewing tobacco, spitting it around during the game. Hence the myth about concentration improvement was born. Thus, overnight, many other people, who were following their role models on TV, picked up on the habit themselves. Still, this is a far more serious and dangerous habit that most of the people are not capable of understanding.
Health Risks Related to Smokeless Tobacco
Just for a start, smokeless tobacco products have got lead, being a deadly nerve poison, formaldehyde, which is used for preservation of corpses, cadmium, found in batteries and harmful hydrocarbons which are present in the exhaust fumes of cars.
Having named these, it is easy to realize that consuming smokeless tobacco may not be that healthy. On the contrary, people who indulge into this unhealthy habit may suffer from larynx, cheek, lip and mouth cancer, being just the tip of the iceberg, since there are numerous other conditions potentially affecting smokeless tobacco users.
Additionally, gum recession, dental cavities, addiction to nicotine, dental decay, bone and teeth loss, stained teeth and bad breath are all equally present dangers of smokeless tobacco consumption.
Frighteningly, half of all people who consume smokeless tobacco, end up with leukoplakia, which is a type of mouth cancer. The other, lucky, few, need to visit their dentist quite often and have their teeth well taken care of, protected for the sped up decay.
Finally, do not think that you can avoid cardiovascular diseases and strokes through smokeless tobacco. Rather, be afraid of potential heart issues, hypertension and nicotine-increased heart rate, damaging your blood vessels.
All, in all, think about your health and consider smokeless tobacco to be equally harmful as cigarettes, staying away from it.
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