Snuff: A Serious Disease – How Dangerous Is It?

Snus is less harmful than smoking, but not harmless. This is shown by a new Swedish study published in Scandinavian Journal of Public Healthwhere researchers have followed over 4,000 men for up to 32 years to examine the relationship between snuff use and cardiovascular disease, writes Aftonbladet.

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At the start of the study, between 1990 and 1999, the participants were 40 or 50 years old. None of the men smoked or had previously smoked. Of the participants, approximately 11 percent stated that they snuffed. The researchers then compared the risk of suffering from various cardiovascular diseases between snuffers and non-snusers over the course of their lives.

“The risk of suffering from high blood pressure increased by 64 percent if you snorted. The risk of suffering from heart failure, which is a serious disease, increased by 75 percent if you snorted,” says Lena Lönnbergresearcher attached to Region Västmanland and Uppsala University, to Aftonbladet.

Snuffers had no higher mortality

However, the study does not show how much or how long one needs to snort for the risks to arise. The participants only had to answer yes or no to whether they snuffed, without information about consumption.

“We cannot comment on how much snus produces the effects,” says Lena Lönnberg. “In terms of time, we can see in the analyzes that the curves between the different groups start to diverge after about ten years”.

In terms of mortality, the researchers found no clear difference between snuffers and non-snuffers. According to Lena Lönnberg, it may be because the number of participants was too small to show such differences.

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