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Cigarette smoking was first acknowledged as a risk factor for osteoporosis more than 20 years ago. It has been proven that smoking has a direct effect on the development of osteoporosis. Significant bone loss has been found in postmenopausal women with prolonged smoking exposure. In addition, a relationship between cigarette smoking and low bone density in adolescence and early adulthood has been identified.

How Smoking Causes Osteoporosis

Smoking can exaggerate osteoporosis because it interferes with the absorption of calcium in the body. Calcium is a crucial nutrient for bone health. The body gets its supply of calcium from utilization of certain types of food, such as dairy products. After it enters the body, calcium is broken down in the digestive tract and distributed to the bones through the bloodstream. It facilitates the formation of new and stronger bones through the process of bone remodeling.

Smoking prevents the appropriate absorption of calcium, and the bones will not receive the amount of calcium they need to remain healthy. Over time, smoking promotes calcium deficiency in bones and lead to osteoporosis.

According to studies, osteoporosis is more widespread in women than men. Presently, osteoporosis threatens around 44 million people in the US, and almost 70% of these Americans are women. It is known that smoking can reduce the production of estrogen in women, and this can result in premature menopause in women. Premature menopause will in turn lead to a significant reduction in bone density.

Cigarette Smoking and Estrogen

Not all studies proved smoking use did increase hip fracture risk in women. But many studies concluded that while estrogen replacement protected women from fracture, this protective effect was eliminated in women on estrogen replacement who smoked.

The studies also proved an anti-estrogenic effect of cigarette smoking. For example, smokers are less likely to develop uterine cancer, fibrocystic disease and fibroadenoma. Each of these conditions is believed to be related to estrogenic stimulation.

Other reports have suggested that smokers have less effective absorption of calcium, opposite to the effect of estrogen, which is believed to enhance calcium absorption.

The anti-estrogen effect of tobacco increased risk for osteoporosis among smoking women. Postmenopausal smoking women have lower estrogen levels than non-smokers and smokers tend to have an earlier menopause than their non-smoking counterparts. This reduction in estrogen is likely to result in an increase in bone resorption, contributing to osteoporosis and fracture risk.

Quit smoking is best way to impove condition of your bones.

Smoking impairs sperm motility and normal development, increasing chances of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects. In the U.S., about 1 in 8 women smokes during pregnancy. Smoking may lower the oxygen available to the baby, which can cause the baby to grow more slowly and gain less weight in the womb.

Smoking Raises Risk for Oral Clefts

Oral clefts are birth defects that take place in the oral-facial area often the lip, the roof of the mouth (hard palate), or the soft tissue in the back of the mouth (soft palate). Because of birth defects study, we now know that smokers' babies may be more likely to have cleft lip and/or cleft palate.