A new study has found some shocking effects of smoking in men. The scientists said that the male smokers are thrice more likely to lose their Y chromosomes in comparison to their non-smoker counterparts.
The researchers said that the study may greatly explain the reason why men develop cancers and die from the disease at disproportionate rates than women.
The study was conducted by the researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden. They found that smoking resulted in disappearance of Y chromosomes more often from the blood cells of male smokers in comparison to the non-smokers or those who have kicked smoking.
Y chromosomes play an important role in the process of sex determination as well as sperm production.
Owing to the fact that only men carries Y chromosomes, the researchers believe that the study’s finding offers a better understanding to why smoking poses greater risk to men than women when it comes to cancer development.
Jan Dumanski, study investigator and a professor at Uppsala, said, “There is a correlation between a common and avoidable risk factor, that is smoking, and the most common human mutation — loss of the Y chromosome. This may in part explain why men in general have a shorter life span than women and why smoking is more dangerous for men.”
For the study, the team of researchers involved more than 6,000 men and analyzed their data by considering factors like their ages, cholesterol levels, alcohol intake, education status, exercise habits and several other health as well as behavioral factors.
The smokers lost Y chromosomes depending of the dose they took. In simpler terms, men who smoked more lost more. And men opted for quitting smoking habit started regaining their Y chromosomes.
The study was published in the journal Science.
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