A Dangerous Trend—Smokeless Tobacco Use Among High School Athletes

Chewing tobacco during the baseball game couldn't be harmful, right? Courtesy of the CDC, we're sharing a graphic that shows the dangerous trend of smokeless tobacco use among high school athletes.

Past 30-day use of combustible tobacco products dropped from 2001 to 2013 among all high school students (31.5% to 19.5%), while past 30-day use of smokeless tobacco remained unchanged among non-athletes (5.9%) and increased among athletes (10.0% to 11.1%).

Smokeless tobacco is NOT without risk. Smokeless tobacco use can lead to nicotine addiction; cause cancer of the mouth, esophagus and pancreas; cause diseases of the mouth; increase the risk for death from heart disease and stroke.