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Smoking isn’t just bad for your lungs
No matter how you slice it, puffing on a cigarette, or any other tobacco product for that matter, simply ups the ante for more health complications. Smoking causes nearly 1 in 5 deaths each year. About 8.6 million Americans suffer from smoking-related chronic conditions, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema and heart disease.
Diabetes
Diabetes and smoking don’t mix. Tobacco use can elevate blood sugar levels and lead to insulin resistance, say experts at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The more you smoke, the bigger your risk: More than 20 cigarettes a day almost doubles smokers’ risk of developing diabetes, compared with nonsmokers’. “People with diabetes already have higher cardiovascular risks,” says David Kendall of the American Diabetes Association. Smoking “just adds to the burden of that risk.”