quitting smoking by age 44 drastically lowers your chance of dying from cancer
a smoker who quit before they turned 45 years old decreased their odds of dying from cancer by almost 89 per cent, study found.
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even light or intermittent smoking increases overall risk of death. getty
new research indicates that quitting smoking by middle age will still have a significantly positive impact on the risk of dying from cancer. a research letter, published in jama oncology in october, looked at the survey data of more than 400,000 participants and followed their health history over the course of 18 years, from 1997 to 2014. overall, they found that smokers are three times more likely to die from cancer than non-smokers. but the body has an incredible capacity to heal itself. those who quit smoking by the time they turned 45 years old decreased their odds of dying from cancer by almost 89 per cent. the authors stressed that quitting at almost any age helped reduce the risk. “the findings reinforce the message that individuals who quit smoking before age 40 can avoid about 90 per cent of the excess risk of dying from cancer that would be expected if they continued to smoke,” blake thomson, principal scientist at the american cancer society, explained in a press release. not surprisingly, the earlier in life a participant quits smoking, the better the impact on their health. a smoker who quit by the age of 34 had almost no increase in their risk of dying from cancer compared to a non-smoker. this risk almost doubled for those who smoked until they were between 55 to 64. any form of smoking is risky for human health. heavy smoking is on the decline, however, there is still a significant number of people who are considered “light” smokers (less than a pack a day) or “intermittent” smokers (doesn’t smoke every day, but will smoke several times per week), according to a study published in the journal circulation. light or intermittent smoking, however, still has a significant increase on overall mortality rates. bottom line? the safest kind of smoker is a non-smoker. emjones@postmedia.com | @jonesyjourn
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