Smokeless Tobacco Use And Pancreatic Cancer Risk
Researchers from the ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention & Research, Noida and School of Preventive Oncology, Patna, India studied the relationship between smokeless tobacco and the risk of different types of cancers. They used data from 80 studies, which included 121 risk estimates for various cancers, obtained through literature search in PubMed and Google Scholar databases based on studies published from 1985 till January 2018 on smokeless tobacco and cancer.
The study found that smokeless tobacco use was associated with an increased risk of oral, esophageal and pancreatic cancers with the risk of oral and esophageal cancers more predominant in the South-East Asian Region and Eastern Mediterranean Region, and pancreatic cancer in the European Region.
Can Smokeless Tobacco Be Used To Help Quit Smoking
Manufacturers often imply or even claim that spit or smokeless tobacco can help people quit smoking. A lot of people believe and try this. But no smokeless tobacco product has been proven to help people quit smoking.
Unlike US Food and Drug Administration -approved standard treatments that have been proven to work and certain drugs), oral tobacco products have not been tested thoroughly to see if they can help a person stop smoking. And research to date has not shown that they really help a person quit.
Even if using smokeless tobacco helps some people give up smoking, it still can cause cancer and other health problems, so it’s not a safe alternative. And because it still contains nicotine, its also addictive and hard to quit.
How Quitting Smoke Lowers Your Cancer Risks
Your chances of cancer rise with the number of cigarettes you smoke each day and how many years you do it. The reverse is true, too. The less you smoke and the sooner you quit, the lower your odds of getting any of the 12 cancers linked to smoking.
Five years after you quit, your odds for mouth, throat, esophageal, and bladder cancer will drop by half. Your odds of getting cervical cancer will fall to the same level as someone who doesnât smoke.
If you go 20 years without smoking, your risk of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, voice box, or pancreas will be about the same as if youâd never smoked.
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Oral And Pharyngeal Cancers
US case-control studies
One study from a Veterans Hospital in New Jersey found no increased risk of oral cancer among users of either snuff or chewing tobacco, and no trend in risk according to the duration of chewing . This study included many ST users although it was mainly concerned with smoking and alcohol consumption. Sites included were not clearly defined and the case series was incomplete. Although important confounders were analysed, the reference categories for both tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption were minimal users, including smokers of 15 cigarettes per day. This is likely to underestimate the risk associated with ST use.
Another large population based study using cancer registry data in Florida found a strong association between ST use and cancers of the mouth and gum 11.2, 95% CI 4.1 to 30.7), salivary glands, and larynx. This study was unable to control for use of alcohol and the number of ST users was small.
Scandinavian case-control studies
Swedish studies are easier to interpret than those in the US as only moist oral snuff is used. Scandinavian studies are also facilitated by the excellent population based statistical information available. However, there may be important differences between different snuff brands.
Asian studies
Other regions
What Is Chewing Tobacco
Chewing tobacco is available in various forms. Its made from different dried parts of the tobacco plant. To use chewing tobacco, you typically place it between your cheek and gums or teeth. You can spit or swallow the juices. Some forms of chewing tobacco are spitless.
When you put chewing tobacco in your mouth, the tissues in your oral cavity absorb the nicotine. Your bloods nicotine concentration slowly increases. Nicotine tends to make its way to and concentrate in certain organs like the liver, spleen, and kidneys. It also makes its way to the brain.
Why do people use chewing tobacco? Here are a few possible reasons:
- Some use it to help quit smoking, though theres no evidence that its useful for this purpose.
- Some people like the taste.
- Like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products are highly addictive. People may return to chewing tobacco because they are addicted.
- Flavored smokeless tobacco products may be more appealing and may attract new users.
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Chemicals Which Causes Oral Cancer From Tobacco
The fully dried tobacco leaves are used to make cigars, cigarettes, and of course, the chewable tobacco also. The tobacco actually comes from the tobacco plant from genus Nicotiana. More than seventy different types of tobacco are found wherein the N.tabacum variety is the most coveted one in the commercial world of tobacco. Some other ingredients are also included to enhance the flavor of tobacco and to make it more enjoyable. The smoke produced from these kinds of stuff is a multifaceted combination of many chemicals twisted by burning tobacco. Tobacco smoke is made up of burning thousands of chemicals, and many of them are the main cause of increases the chances of oral cancer from chewing tobacco. Cancer-causing chemicals found in Tobacco smoke include:
- Hydrogen cyanide
- Some radioactive elements like uranium
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Many of these chemicals cause mouth or oral cancer. Some can cause lung diseases, heart diseases, or other grave health issues, too.
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What Is Snuff Or Dip
Snuff or dip consists of finely ground tobacco. It can be dry, packaged, or moist. Snuff is packaged in pouches or packets. There are different uses of these smokeless tobaccos. Some types are placed in the mouth and others are inhaled into the nose or sniffed.
The dry snuff is in powder form and fire-cured. Typical use is a pinch of powder through the mouth or inhaled through the nose. Moist snuff is aged and fermented. The tobacco is processed into fine particles. The typical use of moist snuff is placing a dip or pinch between the lip and gums or cheek.
Another popular product in the U.S. is snus. This chewing tobacco comes in small pouches that look like small tea bags. The pouch is placed between the teeth or cheek and gums. Unlike the dry snuff and moist snuff, snus dont require spitting.
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Injury To The Esophagus
Lye is a chemical found in strong industrial and household cleaners such as drain cleaners. Lye is a corrosive agent that can burn and destroy cells. Accidentally drinking a lye-based cleaner can cause a severe chemical burn in the esophagus. As the injury heals, the scar tissue can cause an area of the esophagus to become very narrow . People with these strictures have an increased risk of squamous cell esophageal cancer, which often occurs many years later.
S To Quit Chewing Tobacco Use
It’s never easy to break a tobacco habit and nicotine addiction. It may help to make a plan and enlist your loved ones in supporting you. The American Cancer Society offers resources and tips to help you stop using tobacco. They include lifestyle choices such as:
- Eating a healthy diet
- Setting up an exercise routine
- Making sure you get enough rest
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Estimating Deaths Attributable To Smoking
RRs for current and former cigarette smokers for men aged 35+ for seven major cancers caused by smoking were obtained from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II . Numbers of deaths for these seven cancers occurring in US men aged 35+ in 2005 were obtained from WHO . Estimates of the proportion of current and former cigarette smokers in US men aged 35+ in 2005 were obtained from the National Health Interview Survey .
Defining Di as the number of deaths for cancer i , Rci and Rfi as the RRs for current and former cigarette smokers for cancer i, and pc and pf as the proportions of current and former cigarette smokers in the population, the estimated number of deaths, , that would have occurred had the whole population the risk of never smokers, is then estimated by:
The number of deaths avoided from these seven cancers, had the whole population the risk of never smokers is then estimated by:
Feeling Sick In General
A person who has stomach cancer may find they become ill more often. The immune system’s focus on fighting the cancer leaves the body susceptible to other illnesses and infections. Anyone who is becoming sick more often than previously should schedule an appointment to speak to their doctor, especially if they are experiencing other symptoms as well.
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Can Smokeless Tobacco Cause Stomach Cancer
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Alcohol And Tobacco Chewing And Risk Of Hpv Infection In Head And Neck Cancer Patients
Researchers from India analyzed the results from samples taken from 106 head and neck cancer patients obtained from the Head and Neck oncology surgery unit of Dr. Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute , Regional Cancer Center, Guwahati, India to investigate high risk HPV infection and its association with lifestyle habits including tobacco and alcohol consumption. The patients were enrolled between October 2011 and September 2013.
High risk HPV infections were found in 31.13% of the head and neck cancer patients. The study found that alcohol consumption and tobacco chewing were significantly associated with an increased risk of hr-HPV infection in head and neck cancer cases. They also added that when compared to HPV-18 infection, HPV-16 was found to be more significantly associated with tobacco chewing.
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Nicotine Pouches And Your Health
More research needs to be done to find out how safe and effective nicotine pouches are in general. But they can bring on side effects, like:
Never share a nicotine pouch with someone else, and call your doctor right away if you swallow one.
Because nicotine pouches donât have tobacco, they may be safer than snus and other smokeless tobacco products, which can cause:
- Cancers of the mouth, throat, and pancreas
Once you stop smoking, these can ease your cravings for cigarettes. They can also help you manage nicotine withdrawal, which can make you feel sad or irritable, have trouble sleeping, or feel mild flu-like symptoms.
In general, nicotine replacement therapy is a safe quit-smoking treatment if youâre a healthy adult and youâre not pregnant. But you still need to learn about the side effects and get your doctorâs OK before you start using it. It probably isnât right for you if youâre still using tobacco or if you were a light smoker before you decided to quit.
Some other ways to give up tobacco are:
- Work with your doctor on a plan to quit.
- Use a program like SmokefreeTXT. .
- Get tips from an app, like the free QuitGuide.
- Avoid people, places, and situations that seem to make you crave tobacco.
- Take charge of stress with healthy habits like exercise and meditation.
- Join a quit-smoking support group.
- Ask family and friends to keep you accountable as you try to kick the habit.
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Mayo Clinic: âSmokeless tobacco products.â
How Do Cigarettes And Cigars Compare
Cigars became a trend in the 1990s, attracting the young and the old. Many people think cigars are less harmful to their health. But cigars actually pose the same risk for oral cancer as cigarettes do. Many cigar smokers don’t inhale. But their risk for oral, throat, and esophageal cancers is the same as for cigarette smokers. Consider these facts:
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Compared with nonsmokers, regular cigar smokers are 4 to 10 times more likely to die from oral cancer, esophageal cancer, and laryngeal cancer.
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Cigar smokers may spend an hour or more smoking 1 large cigar that can contain the same amount of nicotine as a full pack of cigarettes. And even unlit cigars, when held in the mouth for an extended period of time, promote nicotine absorption.
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Secondhand smoke from cigars contain toxins and cancer-causing agents similar to secondhand cigarette smoke, but in higher concentrations.
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Smokeless Tobacco Use And Oral Cancer Risk
Little Cancer Risk With ‘chew’
LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 29 — Smokeless tobacco does not increase the user’s risk of cancers other than oropharyngeal and prostate cancer, according to an industry-sponsored review of data from 89 studies.
The meta-analysis of North American and Scandinavian research did find a 36% increased risk of oropharyngeal cancer and a 29% increased risk of prostate cancer.
However, the risk of oropharyngeal cancer disappeared in studies published after 1990 and in the Scandinavian research, Peter Lee and Jan Hamling of PN Lee Statistics and Computing reported online in BMC Medicine.
Action Points
- Explain that a study funded by a smokeless tobacco group found no increased risk of cancer except for oropharyngeal and prostate cancer.
- Note, however, that the risk of oropharyngeal cancer disappeared in studies published after 1990 and for those done in Scandinavia.
“Any effect of smokeless tobacco on risk of cancer, if it exists at all, is quantitatively very much smaller than the known effects of smoking,” Lee concluded.
The study drew criticism from other tobacco researchers who questioned the methodology and conclusions.
The industry has argued that smokeless tobacco, in the form of snuff or chewing tobacco, is a safer alternative to smoking because it is not associated with the same disease burden as tobacco cigarettes.
Meanwhile, previous reviews of data regarding smokeless tobacco and cancer have been limited, Lee and Hamling asserted.
Primary Source
BMC Medicine
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Did You Know That Chewing Tobacco Can Also Cause Cancer
by NVRH | Aug 11, 2020 | In the News
ST. JOHNSBURY, VT If you use chewing tobacco and recently heard that this can cause cancer, that is correct. Luckily Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital has the resources to help you quit.
Smokeless tobacco, often called chewing or spit tobacco, is placed in the cheek and/or between the gum and cheek. The tobacco juices are then either swallowed or spit out. Many people think that this is a safer, healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. According to the American Cancer Society, Manufacturers often imply or even claim that spit or smokeless tobacco can help people quit smoking. A lot of people believe and try this. But theres no proof that any smokeless tobacco products help smokers quit smoking.
In fact, smokeless tobacco may actually encourage young people to start smoking and discouraging those who wish to quit. The American Lung Association references a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report, which concludes that tobacco products that dissolve could actually increase overall tobacco use because they may encourage youth to start using and discourage current smokers from quitting.
Theres this misconception that if you use tobacco in a different form, it wont be as bad for you, NVRH Tobacco Treatment Specialist Lynn Goulding said. But the tobacco you put in your mouth still has chemicals and metals that will negatively impact your health. Youre just putting those chemicals into your body in a different way.
Key Facts About Tobacco Use Among Older Adults
- Todays generation of older Americans had smoking rates among the highest of any U.S. generation. In the mid-1960s, about 54 percent of adult males were current smokers and another 21 percent were former smokers in 2008, about 23 percent of adult males were smokers and another 24 percent were former smokers.
- In 2008, over 17 million Americans over the age of 45 smoked, accounting for over 22 percent of all adult smokers. Nine percent of Americans over 65 years of age currently smoked.
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Should Smokeless Tobacco Be Used To Help A Person Quit Smoking
No. There is no scientific evidence that using smokeless tobacco can help a person quit smoking . Because all tobacco products are harmful and cause cancer, the use of all tobacco products is strongly discouraged. There is no safe level of tobacco use. People who use any type of tobacco product should be urged to quit. For help with quitting, ask your doctor about individual or group counseling, telephone quitlines, or other methods.