Smoking long cigarettes can put you at greater risk of lung and oral cancer

According to a new study, smoking ultra-long or long cigarettes can put you at greater risk of lung and oral cancer.

By: Editorial Team | | Updated: October 29, 2013 12:46 pm

According to a new study, smoking ultra-long or long cigarettes can put you at greater risk of lung and oral cancer. Also Read - 'Casual' smokers may also have nicotine addiction: Home remedies to help you quit smoking

Also Read - Can vaping lead to smoking in teenagers? Here's what you need to know

The study led by Dr Constantine Vardavas, senior research scientist at Harvard School of Public Health compared urine tests of 3,699 smokers who smoked regular, king-sized and long cigarettes. The data was collected from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). Also Read - Smoking cigarettes can worsen ‘severity of COVID-19 infection’

It was observed that 53 percent of total smokers smoked king-sized cigarettes, 31.5 percent smoked long or ultra long cigarettes and 15.4 percent smoked regular-sized cigarettes. The urine tests revealed that the smokers of ultralong cigarettes had significantly higher levels of NNAL-an indicator of tobacco-specific carcinogen. (Read:

The research also revealed that older smokers, non-Hispanic blacks and females had a greater tendency to smoke long cigarettes.

‘We found that of smokers of long or ultralong cigarettes have higher concentrations of tobacco specific carcinogens in their urine than smokers of regular or king size cigarettes’, Dr Constantine Vardavas said.

Some ways to quit smoking

Cold Turkey The oldest and most successful method is going ‘cold turkey’ that is quitting smoking without taking any substitute for nicotine. 75% people who’ve quit smoking claim to have done so without the aid of any aid or supplement. Coupled with therapy and intervention cold turkey is supposed to be the best way to quit. There are various websites and helplines which help people quit without the aid of any medicines. Most replacement therapies look to chemically substitute the nicotine hit of smoking but it just means switching from one addiction to another. One of the champions of cold turkey was Allen Carr, a chain smoker who quit smoking and went on to write a book entitled The Easy Way to Quit Smoking which is the most popular book on quitting smoking in the world. Many people have quit smoking after reading his book and this list include celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins and closer home Mahesh Babu and Hrithik Roshan. Allen Carr’s basic principle was despite overwhelming evidence which points out the hazards of smoking people don’t quit because they think of quitting as ‘giving in’ or giving up.

Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) NRT looks to take care of nicotine craving by providing a substitute source without the harmful effects of tobacco. It works on the principle that though nicotine is the ‘addictive’ part of cigarettes the more dangerous ones are tar, carbon monoxide and other gases. There are various products under this Nicorette umbrella which look to aid cessation including chewing gums, lozenges, nasal sprays, patches and inhalers. Some electronic cigarettes also have nicotine filters. Real world studies have shown that NRT’s aren’t as effective as pharmaceutical companies claim. In the real world, 95% who have taken OTC medication have relapsed. (Read: Different ways to quit smoking)

Published : October 29, 2013 12:44 pm | Updated:October 29, 2013 12:46 pm

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