1. Tobacco products – Did you know that 87 percent of men’s and 70 percent of women’s tobacco deaths are caused by smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes? It is the leading cause of death for both women and men. In the U.S., 480,000 deaths in 2012 were related to tobacco use – more than alcohol, car crashes, suicides, AIDS, homicides and illegal drug deaths combined. There were 42 million adult smokers in that same year, which came out to about 18 percent of American adults. And it doesn’t stop at adults.
In 2012, 14 percent of high school students nationwide were smoking. This percentage doesn’t include the 13 percent that smoked the small, filtered cigars that the kids were discovered to be smoking like regular cigarettes. Not exactly as intended.
Want to know the kinds of cancers associated with tobacco use, sans the most obvious, lung cancer? The larynx; oral cavity, nose and sinuses; pharynx; esophagus; stomach; pancreas; cervical; kidney; bladder; ovary; colorectal; and leukemia. Up next is that infamous partner to cigarettes – alcohol.
2. Alcohol is the second leading cause of cancer, behind tobacco use. Did you know that in 1997, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared alcoholic beverages a known carcinogen? And a 2013 study found a strong link between alcohol deaths and cancers. You know what the kicker is? Drinking and smoking together could be a very bad combination.
Alcohol may act as a solvent that allows tobacco substances to be more easily absorbed through tissues. We all know that heavy drinking can lead to liver inflammation that then increases the risk of liver cancer. Excessive alcohol use also could cause heart failure, strokes, sudden death. And booze is thought to be one of the main causes of esophageal, colorectal, mouth, and breast cancers.
3. Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. There are 3.5 million diagnosed cases of basal and squamous cell cancers in the U.S. annually. Most of these skin cancers are a direct result of UV exposure from sunlight.
Melanoma cancers have been noted to begin in places where sunburn left its mark of liver spots and freckles, places where the sunburn previously damaged skin. Sunlight, as a form of radiation, is 95 percent UVA rays and 5 percent UVB rays.