How Many Cigarettes A Day Does It Take To Kill You? Just One A Day Can Do The Trick, New Study Finds

In perhaps what is just one more reason for cigarette smokers to consider quitting, a new study conducted by British researchers has found that a single cigarette a day can be enough to result in your premature death.

Smoking a single cigarette a day, according to their research, has now been linked to a considerably higher risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. In other words, even if you’re a “light” smoker, you may want to ditch the bad habit before it ditches you.

Surprisingly, in comparison to smoking 20 cigarettes a day, which is a somewhat average number for a single pack of cigarettes, smoking just a single cigarette carries about half the risk.

The study’s authors said that they have shown through their research, which was published in the journal The BMJ, “that a large proportion of the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke comes from smoking only a couple of cigarettes each day.” They added that their findings “probably” come “as a surprise to many people” while noting that “there are also biological mechanisms that help explain the unexpectedly high risk associated with a low level of smoking.”

For smokers, the risk of death as a result of cancer is actually lower than the risk of death derived from cardiovascular disease.

“No safe level of smoking exists for cardiovascular disease. Smokers should quit instead of cutting down, using appropriate cessation aids if needed, to significantly reduce their risk of these two common major disorders,” the study’s authors concluded.

“No safe level of smoking exists for cardiovascular disease. Smokers should quit instead of cutting down, using appropriate cessation aids if needed, to significantly reduce their risk of these two common major disorders.”

And based on new research that comes as a result of a U.S. federal government mandate to examine the health implications of e-cigarettes, vaping may very well be an appropriate cessation tool for many smokers as the researchers found vaping e-cigs to likely be far less harmful than smoking cigarettes.