Snus - bezpečnější cesta pro kuřáky

Dr. Sydney Spiesel discusses snus, a snuff product that's safer than smoking, the link between malnutrition and immune deficiency, and a new treatment for stress incontinence.

Question: Snus, prepared from ground tobacco leaves, is a form of snuff that's usually tucked inside the cheek, where its nicotine payload can be slowly absorbed across the mucous membranes of the mouth. Snuff is generally regarded as harmful—in South Asia, for example, it's associated with a higher risk for mouth cancer. Is snus lower risk?

New research: That is the question examined in this recent Lancet paper. The researchers followed more than 125,000 Swedish construction workers, for 12 to 26 years, who were nonsmoking users of snus. They found no increase in oral or lung cancers, compared with nonsmokers who did not use any form of tobacco. But they did find an approximately double risk of developing pancreatic cancer, resulting in about 40 more cases of this disease in the 125,000 snus users. Other studies of snus users in Sweden show only tiny increases in heart disease and stroke, two conditions that are significantly higher in cigarette smokers. It would appear, then, that snus—though not risk-free—is safer than smoking.