Smokers eager to cut the risk of dying early from tobacco-related illnesses must quit completely, researchers said on Tuesday, because cutting down -- even by half -- is not enough.
"Smokers should quit -- you can't give your health a better present than to quit smoking," said Dr Kjell Bjartveit, former director of the National Health Screening Service, in Oslo.
In a 20-year study of 51,000 men and women in Norway, Bjartveit and his team studied the impact of cutting down smoking on deaths from heart disease, lung cancer and other tobacco-related cancers.
All the people at the start of the study were between 20-34 years old. They were assessed for their risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the project and twice during the 20-year follow up period.
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