I hear statements like this repeatedly and always wondered: if given 5-10 years your lungs can really heal themselves so it's like you never smoked, does that mean you can smoke with no health consequences by stopping when you're middle aged? (before there's any real risk of contracting lung cancer)
The answer to that is clearly no.
Young people aren't immune to cancer; they're also increasing their risk of developing cancer while they smoke...
Additionally, this study only speaks of lung health. There is also lots of evidence out there showing smoking adversely affects cardiovascular health... whether you heal from those effects is another matter.
On a personal anecdote, both my grandfathers smoked their entire lives - and both had thoracic aortic aneurysms (one actually had his rupture and survived miraculously despite a 97-99% mortality rate). Anyhow, tobacco use is a risk factor for developing thoracic aneurysms - and I can't see how one's aorta would ever go completely back to normal after developing such a malformation...
Smoking increases risk of cancer in the mouth and throat, not just the lungs. Your lungs aren't the whole story.
— The risk was as follows:
5 years after quitting: 12.12 times that of a never smoker 5 to 10 years after quitting: 11.77 times 10 to 15 years after quitting: 7.81 times 15 to 25 years after quitting: 5.88 Over 25 years since quitting: 3.85 — https://www.verywellhealth.com/risk-of-lung-cancer-in-former...
* mouth, pharynx, nose / sinuses, larynx, esophagus, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, bowel, ovary, bladder, cervix ...
The effects are not cumulative.
It's about statistics - the longer you smoke and the more you smoke, the more likely you will be to get cancer.
Exactly, a simple metric used is the "pack year"[0] which is a way to represent overall exposure.
My mother died of lung cancer which sent me down many a rabbit hole, and I don't really understand what is surprising in the linked article. It's been known that risk of cancer decreases after one stops smoking, even if it never recedes to baseline (while asymptotically approaching it, basically). You have damaged cells which might become carcinogenic, or they might not, but those cells can also just die and be replaced by healthy cells.
The more you've smoked, though, the more damaged cells you've caused, so the more land mines you've got floating around your body.
There are many health consequences - lung health is just one
There's a "Smoker's cough" associated with people who smoke, but also a more serious "Smoker's cough" for some past smokers who are quitting. It's loud, obnoxious, and it feels like your insides are going to turn out if you cough one more time.
If you were a heavy smoker, like I once was, you can't breathe quickly or else you'll go into a coughing spell. Exercising and otherwise enjoying the world on foot is nearly impossible. There's not much you can do to make it better except wait -- Depending on your past smoking habits, sometimes years.
I do wonder if light smokers could get away with it, though.
Can’t speak on lung cancer. My mum died in 2013 from non-Hodgson’s lymphoma and she only smoked for a few years in her early twenties. She was diagnosed in her forties and it didn’t actually get her until her early seventies.
The risk there is highest in current smokers, lowest in non-smokers, and past smokers are in the middle.
Not sure its worth wagering on it.