The Institute of Medicine estimates that 76% of Americans have at some time used
tobacco, and 32% became dependent on it. Smoking has declined in the U.S. from
about 42% of the adult population in 1965 to 15.5% in 2016, with about 17.5% of
men and 13.5% of women smoking. About 37.8 million American adults continue
to smoke. Unfortunately, smoking cigarettes, cigars, nicotine dosing e-cigarettes,
and hookahs, as well as using chew and snuff, remains common among American
youth. Even though tobacco advertising targeting youths is restricted, and anti-smoking educational efforts are widespread, about 6% of high school seniors are smokers.

Smoking and other uses of tobacco are the leading causes of preventable deaths in
the U.S. and worldwide.30 About half of all Americans who keep smoking will die
from a disease linked to smoking. Smoking cigarettes is linked to the deaths of more
Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs
combined. Estimates of annual smoking-related mortality range from 437,000 to
556,000 and about 160,000 of these deaths are from many different forms of cancer.
Up to one in five deaths in the U.S. each year are from illnesses related to tobacco
use, and about 30% of cancer deaths are smoking-related. The non-cancer deaths
caused by smoking are caused by a variety of diseases, predominantly cardiovascular
diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease that
includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Cigarette smokers die younger than non-smokers. A study done in the late 1990s by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that smoking shortened
male smokers’ lives by 13.2 years and female smokers’ lives by 14.5 years.
Men and women who smoke are much more likely to die between the ages of 35
and 69 than those who have never smoked. Stopping smoking by age 40 reduces the
loss of life from tobacco-related causes by about 90%. Quitting at any age is likely
to reduce the risk of premature death.
This blog presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. I am not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures and suggestions in that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader’s own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise or other assistance or advice the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in this blog or participating in any programs described in this blog or in the book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Your Health with a Lifestyle Checklist (available in print or downloaded at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and elsewhere). Copyright 2021 by J. Joseph Speidel