Say no to smoking

The Canadian Women's Health Network reports that smoking-related diseases are now the number one killer of women in Canada. It's estimated that more than 13,000 Canadian women a year will die of tobacco-related causes. That means not only lung cancer but heart disease and respiratory and circulatory system diseases, as well. Lung cancer 90 percent of which is attributable to smoking kills more women each year than breast cancer.

Adult female smokers triple their risk of dying from heart disease and women who smoke while using birth control pills face a higher risk of stroke.

The rate of teenaged girls who smoke is now higher than that for boys. A 2003 BC Cancer Agency study showed that adolescent girls who began smoking within five years of their first menstrual periods were 70 percent more likely to develop breast cancer later in life than their non-smoking peers.

Not enough to make you quit? Health Canada reports, "Middle-aged women who smoke are likely to be as wrinkled as non-smokers who are 15 to 20 years older."

In 2000, more than a quarter of a million Canadian women quit smoking. Ask your health food store for a natural supplement to help you stop smoking.