You don't need smoke to throw your health in the fire

Dear Reader, Yesterday, I talked about the strides this country has made against smoking. But I also mentioned that there's still a lot more work to do if Americans are going to get serious about protecting their health. Because the truth is, tobacco is still responsible for far too many deaths... even in this day and age. And they're not all a result of smoking, either. In fact, new research shows that smokeless tobacco (commonly known as snuff) is just as dangerous...and quitting is just as life-saving. Swedish scientist looked at data from nearly 2,500 heart attack survivors. And they found that patients who stopped using smokeless tobacco cut their risk of dying in half--the same improvement in life expectancy that you would get from quitting smoking. This research makes it pretty obvious that public health efforts need to focus on allforms of tobacco--not just smoking. But there's another vocal group of doctors who think that any nicotine delivery system--including the newly popular e-cigarettes--spells potential trouble. As this new research shows, heart tissues are highly sensitive to pollutants of any kind. That means that even those supposedly "safe" e-cigarettes could be an unnecessary gamble on your life. So-called "vaping" may be a step up from smoking. But it could still pose a significant hazard to your health. And like switching to diet soda, turning to e-cigarettes may just expose you to a new set of risks. There's simply no way to be certain yet. It could be some time before scientists know the full story here. But for now, the bottom line couldn't be any clearer: Kicking cigarettes just isn't enough. If you really want to get healthy, you can't just swap one addiction for another. You've got to stand up and fight for your health. And you've got to conquer your demons--whether it's tobacco, nicotine, or sugar--for good.