Although majority of the people who smoke knows that habitual lighting and puffing of cigars or cigarettes poses danger to health, many are still too attached and are way too far in considering avoiding or quitting this deadly habit.
The results of the Seventh National Nutrition Survey (NNS) of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) showed that 31 percent of adults 20 years and over were current cigarette smokers.
Filipino male smokers, who represent 53.2 percent, were four times higher than female smokers who make up 12.5 percent.
Smoking poses numerous ill-effects to our body, not only increasing the risk of developing lung cancer, but many other forms of cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, larynx, pancreas, cervix, bladder, and even kidney.
The effects of smoking on the body can also include emphysema, heart attack, stroke, cataracts, impotence, miscarriage and delivery of underweight newborn children for pregnant women.
Cigarette or tobacco contains thousands of toxic chemicals and addictive nicotine.
Nicotine is readily absorbed in the blood and gives a hit or a rush to the brain in only about 10 seconds that increases the heart rate and blood pressure.
When a stick of cigarette is smoked, 4,000 chemicals are released, putting the smoker and the people around him greatly at-risk deadly diseases.
Non-smokers exposed to cigarette smoke are called second-hand smokers because they are equally at-risk to the dangers of smoking.
For these reasons, the importance of smoking cessation extends beyond the health benefits to the smokers themselves but to the people in their environment as well.
Kicking off this habit may bring immediate as well as long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by smoking and improving health in general.
A person who quits smoking will have a normal pulse rate and blood pressure reading just one day after giving up cigarettes.
A person’s risk for heart disease will decrease in less than a week after a person quits smoking. Also, sense of taste and smell will greatly improve.
After two months of giving up cigarettes, the lungs will clear out and the risk for infection decreases.
Furthermore, within one year of cigarette cessation, a person’s chances of having a heart attack will drop and the risk for cancer will be significantly reduced.
The health benefits of quitting smoking get even better over time.
Hence, quitting smoking now reaps health benefits that far outweigh the “pleasure” of killing yourself slowly but surely.
For more information on food and nutrition, contact: Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, Director, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology, General Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig City; Tel/Fax Num:8372934 and 8373164; email: mvc@fnri.dost.gov.ph, mar_v_c@yahoo.com; FNRI-DOST website: http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph. FNRI-DOST S & T Media Service: Press Release – IMELDA ANGELES AGDEPPA, Ph.D.
