We know today that smoking tobacco leads to serious health effects. It is the the greatest cause of preventable death globally, and killed at least a hundred million deaths in the 20th century. Current smokers are estimated to die an average of 10 years earlier than non-smokers. Tobacco contains 70 known carcinogens, plus nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive drug. As early as the 1700, it was generally known that tobacco caused cancer. But tobacco companies succeeded in selling their product to the public. I heard that China still smokes a lot, so I asked Google AI: Despite a slight decline in the percentage of individual smokers, overall cigarette consumption in China has surged by 39% over the past two decades . The country now accounts for nearly half of the world's total cigarette consumption , selling approximately 2.4 trillion cigarettes annually. [ 1 , 2 ] The rising trend in cigarette sales and consumption is driven by a combination of institutional, economi...

  From Stanford Medicine: For a long time, drinking in moderation was considered socially acceptable, and maybe even healthy.  You supposedly protected your heart with red wine, and even reduced diabetes. But what's the current truth about moderate drinking? The idea that moderate, occasional drinking is good for your health is outdated . Decades ago, large surveys of adults began showing an association between how much alcohol someone drank and their risk of death. People who said they drank heavily had an increased risk, but those who drank nothing at all also had an increased risk compared with those who drank one or two servings of alcohol per day . These findings were well promoted by the alcohol industry. Turns out that even at low levels, alcohol can have significant negative effects on your body. Recent research. A 2025 report from the American Association for Cancer concluded that  more than 5% of all cancers in the U.S. are attributable to alcohol use . A 2025 S...