There is no safe level of smoking, according to the findings of a BMJ study reported by Alex Therrien for BBC News.
The BMJ researchers reportedly found that smokers needed to quit cigarettes rather than cut back on them to lower significantly their risk of heart disease and stroke.
People who smoked even one cigarette a day were still about 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 30 percent more likely to have a stroke than were people who had never smoked.
There was therefore no safe level of smoking for such diseases, the researchers said.
Their analysis of 141 studies, published in the BMJ, indicates a 20-a-day habit would cause seven heart attacks or strokes in a group of 100 middle-aged people.
If the people in that group cut back to one cigarette a day the result would still be three heart attacks.
Therrien said, however, that ‘an expert’ had pointed out that people who cut down were more likely to stop.
Cardiovascular disease, not cancer, is said to be the greatest mortality risk for smoking, causing about 48 percent of smoking-related premature deaths.
While the percentage of adults in the UK who smoke has been falling, the proportion of people who smoke one to five cigarettes a day has been rising steadily.
No safe smoking level
