The dangers of smoking just got more severe

We're now half way through the year already and it seems like the past months have vanished in a puff of smoke. Speaking of smoke, was one of your New Year's resolutions to give up smoking? If you're battling or have started to waver on your decision to quit, the findings of a recent study on smoking may help...

Smoking is one of the hardest lifestyle changes to make. But it’s also one of the very best things you can do for your health.

If you’re having trouble quitting, a study in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology may strengthen your resolve to make the remainder of the year your chance to quit smoking and to resist going back to the habit down the road.

Here’s what the study found about the dangers of smoking

You probably know that smoking cigarettes causes cancer. But for a long time, the general assumption has been that it takes time, right?

That people get cancer after smoking for years.

Not so, according to a study in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

The scary truth is that it doesn’t take years for smoking to cause cancer. In fact, it takes mere minutes.

Researchers focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These are believed to be a major player in the development of lung cancer. They found that, through metabolism, PAH is quickly transformed into diolepoxides, chemicals that are mutagenic and carcinogenic.

“This means they damage DNA and are directly involved in causing cancer. And the process of this transformation takes a shocking 15 to 30 minutes,” writes Christine O’Brien of Nutrition & Healing. That’s right. The process of cancer development begins less than a half hour after taking a drag.

So basically, according to this study (the first to look at this particular pathway), the negative health effects of smoking cigarettes are in fact be immediate.

Hopefully this news will be enough to boost your resolve to break the habit this year.

Tags: smoking, quitting smoking, dangers of smoking