On top of suffering from secondhand smoke, research suggests that people who live with smokers may also suffer malnutrition.

After examining data culled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jeffrey S. Hampl, an Arizona State University assistant nutrition professor, found that spouses of smokers’ consumed on average three more grams of total fat per 1,000 calories than spouses of nonsmokers’. Their diets were also lacking in fiber and certain vitamins and minerals.

These findings may be partially explained by smokers’ tendency to have lower incomes than nonsmokers. “When people have low incomes, they often don’t make the best dietary choices,” says Hampl. Lower income may also mean lower education and less access to health information—all of which may hinder healthful eating.

What’s more, “[smoking] goes hand in hand with unhealthy behavior,” Hampl says. “When people smoke, they often rush through their break or take a snack outside so they can smoke.”

Smokers’ husbands fared the worst, consuming more alcohol and cholesterol than their counterparts with non-smoking spouses. “Women are more health-conscious, more likely to learn about nutrition, and are still reminding their husbands to go to the doctor,” Hampl reasons. So when the women step outside for a smoke, their husbands reach for a drink.

Besides stinking up your clothes and hair, secondhand smoke has more than 4,000 chemical compounds present, many of which increase the risk of cancer and heart disease. Breathing in secondhand smoke can irritate peoples’ airways and can even trigger asthma attacks. The only safe way to avoid the effects of secondhand smoke is a completely smoke-free environment.

Everyone knows smoking is a bad idea. And by now you’ve probably heard that breathing in someone else’s secondhand smoke is also hazardous to your health.

What Is Secondhand Smoke?

Secondhand smoke comes from both the smoke that smokers exhale (called mainstream smoke) and the smoke floating from the end of the cigarette, cigar, or pipe (called sidestream smoke).

It may seem pretty harmless, but secondhand smoke actually contains thousands of chemicals — from arsenic ammonia to hydrogen cyanide — many of which have been proven to be toxic or to cause cancer (called carcinogens). High concentrations of many of these chemicals are found in secondhand smoke. In fact, secondhand smoke significantly increases a person’s risk for:

• respiratory infections (like bronchitis and pneumonia)
• asthma (secondhand smoke is a risk factor for the development of asthma and can trigger attacks in those who already have it)
• coughing, sore throats, sniffling, and sneezing
• cancer
• heart disease

So secondhand smoke doesn’t just impact a person in the future. It can cause problems right now, like affecting someone’s sports performance or ability to be physically active.

What Can You Do?

Chances are, you know someone who smokes. Maybe it’s your Grandma or the guy you hang out with at your job at the mall. Whether you smoke or you’re regularly around someone who does, it’s never healthy to breathe in tobacco smoke. Even occasional or short-term exposure can take a toll on the body.

If you smoke, try to quit. Quitting isn’t easy because smoking is highly addictive. But plenty of programs and people can help you make the brave effort to becoming smoke free. And just consider the benefits: You’ll look, feel, and smell better, not to mention you’ll have more money saved to go out and show off the newer, healthier you! Who knows — maybe knowing that you’re protecting the people you love by quitting will help give you even more willpower to kick the habit.

If you don’t smoke, ask the smokers you know to observe these two practical habits:

1. Take all their smoke breaks outside — away from other people, especially kids and anyone who’s pregnant. Smoke lingers in the air hours after cigarettes are put out. That means if a smoker is puffing away anywhere inside, other people are inhaling that smoke, too. Because smoke sticks to people and their clothing, when smokers come back inside, they should wash their hands and change their clothing, especially before holding or hugging children.
2. Never smoke in a car with other people. Even exhaling out the window does little, if anything, to reduce smoke exposure.

It’s been scientifically proven that secondhand smoke is dangerous. So, hopefully the smokers in your life will be willing to take these simple steps.

Just as a person who smokes chooses to light up, nonsmokers have a choice, too — to walk away from other people’s smoke at home, school, work, restaurants, even friends’ and family members’ houses. New laws are making it easier all the time for nonsmokers to lead smoke-free lives.

Taking a stand on secondhand smoke will keep you much healthier and possibly even help someone you love think twice about their own unhealthy habit, too.

Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or passive smoke, is a mixture of 2 forms of smoke from burning tobacco products:

• Sidestream smoke: smoke that comes from the end of a lighted cigarette, pipe, or cigar
• Mainstream smoke: smoke that is exhaled by a smoker

When non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke it is called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke absorb nicotine and other toxic chemicals just like smokers do. The more secondhand smoke you are exposed to, the higher the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.

Why Is Secondhand Smoke a Problem?

Secondhand smoke is classified as a “known human carcinogen” (cancer-causing agent) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization.

Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds. More than 60 of these are known or suspected to cause cancer.

Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:

• an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers
• about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults
• other breathing problems in non-smokers, including coughing, mucus, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function
• 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations
• increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million children who have asthma
• more than 750,000 middle ear infections in children

Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are also at increased risk of having low birth weight babies.

An issue that continues to be studied is whether secondhand smoke may increase the risk of breast cancer. Both mainstream and secondhand smoke contain about 20 chemicals that, in high concentrations, cause breast cancer in rodents. Chemicals in tobacco smoke reach breast tissue and are found in breast milk.

The evidence regarding secondhand smoke and breast cancer risk in human studies is still being debated, partly because the risk has not been shown to be increased in active smokers. One possible explanation for this is that tobacco smoke may have different effects on breast cancer risk in smokers and in those who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

A report from the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 concluded that the evidence regarding secondhand smoke and breast cancer is “consistent with a causal association” in younger, mainly premenopausal women. The 2006 US Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, concluded that there is “suggestive but not sufficient” evidence of a link at this point. In any case, women should be told that this possible link to breast cancer is yet another reason to avoid contact with secondhand smoke.

The 2006 US Surgeon General’s report reached several important conclusions:

• Secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and in adults who do not smoke.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes breathing (respiratory) symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.
• Secondhand smoke immediately affects the heart and blood circulation in a harmful way. It also causes heart disease and lung cancer.
• The scientific evidence shows that there is no “safe” level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Many millions of Americans, both children and adults, are still exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces despite a great deal of progress in tobacco control.
• The only way to fully protect non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke indoors is to prevent all smoking in that indoor space or building. Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot keep non-smokers from being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Where Is Secondhand Smoke a Problem?

There are 3 locations where you should be especially concerned about exposure to secondhand smoke:

Your Workplace

The workplace is a major source of secondhand smoke exposure for adults. Secondhand smoke meets the criteria to be classified as a potential cancer-causing agent by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for health and safety regulations in the workplace. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), another federal agency, also recommends that secondhand smoke be considered a potential occupational carcinogen. Because there are no known safe levels, they recommend that exposures to secondhand smoke be reduced to the lowest possible levels.

Secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace has been linked to an increased risk for heart disease and lung cancer among adult non-smokers. The Surgeon General has concluded that smoke-free workplace policies are the only effective way to do away with secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace. Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating the building cannot prevent exposure if people smoke inside the building. Aside from protecting non-smokers, workplace smoking restrictions may also encourage smokers who wish to quit or reduce their use of tobacco products.

Public Places

Everyone can be exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, such as restaurants, shopping centers, public transportation, schools, and daycare centers. Although some businesses are reluctant to ban smoking, there is no credible evidence that going smoke-free is bad for business. Public places where children go are a special area of concern.

Your Home

Making your home smoke-free may be one of the most important things you can do for the health of your family. Any family member can develop health problems related to secondhand smoke. Children are especially sensitive. In the United States, 21 million, or 35% of children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis. About 50% to 75% of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine, in their blood.

Think about it: we spend more time at home than anywhere else. A smoke-free home protects your family, your guests, and even your pets.

What About Smoking Odors?

There is no research in the medical literature about the cancer-causing effects of cigarette odors. The literature does show that secondhand tobacco smoke can get into hair, clothing, and other surfaces. Though unknown, the cancer-causing effects would likely be very small compared to direct exposure to secondhand smoke, such as living in a house with a smoker.

What Can Be Done About Secondhand Smoke?

Local, state, and federal authorities can enact public policies to protect people from secondhand smoke and protect children from tobacco-caused diseases and addiction. Because there are no safe levels of secondhand smoke, it is important that any such policies be as strong as possible, and that they do not prevent action at other levels of government.

Many US local and state governments, and even federal governments in some other countries, have decided that protecting the health of employees and others in public places is of the utmost importance. And many have passed clean indoor air laws in recent years. While the laws vary from place to place, they are becoming more common. Detailed information on smoking restrictions in each state is available from the American Lung Association at http://slati.lungusa.org.

To learn how you can become involved in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, contact your American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345).