As baseball season gets underway, there's a revival of not only hot dogs, but chewing tobacco. Baseball’s history with chewing tobacco began early on, when players sought to keep their mouths from getting dry due to hot, dusty conditions. What are the dangers of chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco, and why has it been overlooked even as society clamps down on cigarettes?
This week on “Take Care,” Dr. David Pfister discusses the dangers chewing tobacco has on the mouth area and the entire body. Pfister is the chief of the head and neck oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Chewing tobacco is just one type of smokeless tobacco. There are multiple ways the product is packaged. One of the more familiar ones besides chewing tobacco is snuff.
Pfister points out that chewing tobacco is very addictive due to the nicotine in the product.
But the health risks associated with tobacco are aslo hidden in the other ingredients in the product that are generally overlooked.
“It’s many things that I think listeners may not appreciate like the fertilizers that’s used in the tobacco, things that are added to the tobacco for flavoring, things like this,” Pfister says. “There are a number of cancer-causingagents which have been documented in these products.”
It’s not just a conversation about cancer, however. Pfister says other health effects include bad breath, periodontal disease or more commonly known as gum disease, gum recession, premalignant lesions in the mouth, scarring, possible reproductive effects in pregnancy and an increase of risk of vascular disease and diabetes. Pfister added that there have even been cases of pancreatic cancer that are due to swallowing small residue from the product.
It is a common misconception that small amounts of chewing tobacco will not cause harm or lead to further usage and addiction of the product. Hereditary genes and diet are just two factors that can influence the amount of harm tobacco has on the body.
“You’re really rolling the dice here when given that uncertainty,” Pfister says.
Pfister adds that nicotine is incorporated in the product to make customers keep coming back. Once a day can easily go to three days a week, to five days a week, to seven days a week and to more each day, which can lead to exploring more tobacco products.
“That’s not a constructive way to look at something which I think really has so many adverse health effects,” Pfister says.
Pfister said that the use of tobacco may be linked to the heavy attention on the war on cigarettes that has occurred over the last few decades. This can mislead tobacco users to switch to smoke-free tobacco because they are misled that it is a healthier alternative and more accessible in public places.
“This is a place where there is a lot of marketing that goes on,” Pfister says. “You have a lot of smoke-free environments that you start to get marketing ‘well gee, this smokeless tobacco is a way that when you’re on the platform at the train station or you’re in a restaurant or something, that you’re able to still get access at the nicotine.’”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly four in every 100 adults aged 18 years and older were smokeless tobacco users in 2012.
