Editor’s note: This blog was updated 8/16/2023 to align with current FDA guidance.

January is a common time to make resolutions—and a great time to make a resolution to stop smoking. If you don’t smoke but have loved ones who do, you can support them by talking about the risks of smoking, the importance of quitting and resources available to help them quit.

Pregnant woman saying no to cigarette
Support your loved ones by helping them quit.

Quitting is hard work. But there are great resources available to Veterans who are ready to make the commitment. Rest assured that it is one of the best things you can do for your health, no matter what your age. The Surgeon General’s estimate is that it could add 10 years to your life.

It’s hard to imagine a time when smoking wasn’t known to be dangerous. But there was a time when doctors used to recommend smoking as a cure for various ailments. In the 1920s, cigarette companies started marketing to women, encouraging them to smoke to lose weight.

While nicotine—the active ingredient in cigarettes—is linked to appetite suppression, the idea of smoking for weight loss wasn’t a public health campaign.

Vaping is also addictive

There are no safe tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vapes. These products should never be used by youths, young adults, pregnant women, or adults who do not currently use tobacco products. Along with exposing people to tobacco-related disease and death, FDA has received reports about additional safety problems associated with vaping products – including lung injuries, seizures and other neurological symptoms, and more. For those who do smoke, the FDA has approved medications to help them quit.

According to the FDA, switching completely from smoking cigarettes to e-cigarettes can reduce the health risks of those who smoke. However, “there is not yet enough evidence to support claims that e-cigarettes… are effective tools for quitting smoking.” Additionally, “no e-cigarette has been approved as a cessation device or authorized to make a modified risk claim.”

Health risks of smoking

Some of the health risks of smoking include:

  • Lung cancer
  • Chronic bronchitis
  • Emphysema
  • Heart disease
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Pneumonia
  • Leukemia
  • Cataracts

If you’re ready to take action, reach out to your local VA, call VA’s tobacco quitline (1-855-QUIT-VET), or head to the SmokefreeVET website.

Some are hesitant to quit smoking for fear of gaining weight. Your VA registered dietitians are here to help! If you’re interested in other ways to improve your health, including managing symptoms such as appetite or weight gain while you’re working on quitting, request an appointment with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at your local VA medical center.

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9 Comments

  1. Max January 9, 2023 at 17:54

    Amazing how psilocybin has proven highly effective in addictions especially with cigarette smoking after just a handful of treatments but NO not for the common vet. This already proven treatment along with the effectiveness of psilocybin for PTSD will never be available to the common single, older vet only those special vets who check the “right” boxes, are paper pretty for the researchers and are buddies with the “right” doctors and directors as buddies.
    Rest of us get a bully app, gee, thanks for your effort way to save money and kill off the vets with chronic PTSD and SMIs who are proven to have the hardest time quitting cigarettes/nicotine. But the politicians and monied classes won’t be disturbed by the trashy crazy vets getting treatment the rich privileged connected vets can access.

  2. James January 6, 2023 at 15:16

    Not bad, but I still prefer regular cigarettes

  3. John Schmidt III January 5, 2023 at 13:55

    I quit smokeless tobacco cold turkey in January 2022. Gained 20 pounds almost immediately. Still want to eat constantly but no weight gailn in months. I would sure like to get rid of that belly I put on.

  4. Thomas Platfoot January 5, 2023 at 04:54

    Excuse me , the app is called “ QUIT NOW” and it’s Free??

  5. Thomas Platfoot January 5, 2023 at 04:51

    Also, go the Apple App Store and download the “ I QUIT” app.
    It’s free and automatically keeps track of how many cigarettes you’ve not smoked, how much money you’re saving and how much time is being added to your life span. Good Luck!!!❤️

  6. Thomas Platfoot January 5, 2023 at 04:46

    I thought I could never quit smoking!!!
    I bought some nicorette small lozenges on Amazon. After I smoked every cigarette and butts left in the ashtray, I would put a lozenge in my mouth in place of a cigarette. I would distract myself, like tv or reading, and the urge would disappear. After about 2-3 weeks I noticed I wasn’t eating lozenges anymore. It kind of happened in my subconscious automatically. Another most important thing is Don’t buy anymore cigarettes!!! This works, I’m proof!!!??

  7. John Finch January 4, 2023 at 21:00

    I took part in the V.A. stop smoking program 6 years ago and by following their ideas I have not smoked since a few weeks after the class. I had tried many things over the years but this really works and I am very grateful. I passed this information on to my wife and she is also smoke free for the same amount of time. Thanks to those who take the lead with this program and please know you DO make a positive difference.

  8. Jody Lanard MD January 2, 2023 at 12:40

    In my decades of risk communication work, and in my lifetime of support for anti-smoking campaigns, I became a huge fan of “harm reduction” policies.
    I am stunned that several top branches of the US government including the “science-based” CDC have thrown harm reduction to the wind when it comes to vaping vs smoking.
    These agencies are systematically and dishonestly teaching the public (and lower level officials) that vaping is as bad as smoking.
    It’s working: recent surveys show more and more kids believe it,.
    I hate to think that government officials are proud of bamboozling the American public.
    Jody Lanard MD

    • Rhonda January 3, 2023 at 12:17

      I am unfortunately still smoking. In the process of implementing harm reduction strategies to decrease smoking, I have benefitted and learned more.
      If I can stay below 10 cigarettes a day, there is dramatic difference in the effect on my lungs,
      . This reinforces that I would feel better off of them and that I am at least reducing the harm.
      I feel more hopeful when I feel better as well.
      I tell my Veterans that every cigarette that is NOT smoked is a victory.
      My personal care team Providers in the Community do not berate me as that does nothing to motivate me.
      I just wish that the Vaping industry would come out with a quit pack as mixing up decreasing nicotine/flavor mix is a pain and not very precise.

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