Smokeless tobacco and it’s consumption, prevalence and contribution to oral cancer
Smokeless tobacco and it’s consumption, prevalence and contribution to oral cancer. Smokeless tobacco can be ingested without any heat or heat inducing tools, containing high levels of nicotine and nitrosamines, these chemicals target the organs that produce adrenaline, resulting in the same effect of increased heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. It consists of several chemical compounds that lead to dependence and a high chance of cancer, many products such as naswar, gutka and paan are the most commonly used in Pakistan (Fayyaz et al, 2021) the high amounts of nitrosamines in particular attack areas in the head and neck, amplifying the chances of developing cancerous cells throughout one’s life. In the “Prevalence of Smokeless Tobacco Use in Pakistan: Insight from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey Pakistan” it identified how 8.6% of the total population are users of smokeless tobacco. 8.0% were daily users while the latter 0.6% were not and the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use was higher in males (13.7%) approximately from the ages of 14-49 years, comparatively less than females (3.9%) who ranged from 16-47 years. A high percentage of these men were those who started at an early age and belonged to low income households and economic backgrounds (Saima et al, 2018). Present research highlights how smokeless tobacco contains 25 more chemicals than non-edible tobacco and how 28 different cancer causing chemicals are present in smokeless tobacco alone, consisting of tobacco specific nitrosamines, these can cause more harm with each intake (American Cancer Society, 2020).