Sunday Times 2
Cigars ‘are worse than cigarettes’
View(s):Cigars may be more harmful to smokers than cigarettes, researchers warned yesterday.
Researchers have warned that the risk for cigar smokers of dying from oral, oesophageal or lung cancer was at least as bad as for cigarettes (Reuters)
The news comes as cigar use rises in the US, where the study was carried out, and cigarette smoking declines.
Alarmingly, more young people appear to be taking up cigars thanks to new ranges of flavoured ones.
Cigar consumption more than doubled from 6.2billion in 2000 to more than 13.7billion in 2011 – in contrast with a 33 per cent fall for cigarettes.
Researchers analysed 22 studies, including five from Britain, and found the risks for cigar smokers of dying from oral, oesophageal or lung cancer was at least as bad as for cigarettes.
They also found that those who smoked cigars and had previously smoked cigarettes had a much higher risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared to cigar smokers who had not previously smoked cigarettes.
The team said they believed this could be due in part to the inhalation patterns of these different types of cigar smokers.
Cindy Chang, of the US Food and Drug Administration, which did the study, said: ‘Some risks associated with cigar smoking can be as high or higher than with cigarette smoking.
“Cigar smoking is linked to fatal oral, oesophageal, pancreatic, laryngeal, and lung cancers, as well as heart disease and aortic aneurysm.”
© Daily Mail, London