It is widely believed that use of Swedish tobacco snus among men, particularly in Sweden, has served as an amazing aid to make them quit smoking. Swedish male smokers have been using snus to lead a smoke-free life. However, that’s not the entire story.
Use of snus or switch to snus has played a crucial role in keeping tobacco users far away from cigarettes which are more detrimental to health. Almost 10 years ago, a study was conducted on Swedish boys and girls in the age group of 15-16 years and the result was quite impressive. During a long period of 1989-2003, tobacco use significantly declined among both boys and girls. Regular smoking, in case of boys, dropped from 10% to 4% after 1992 whereas snus use increased from 10% in 1990s to 13% in 2003. In earlier days, regular smoking in girls was 20% but dropped to 15%. Statistics shows it clearly that girl smokers were double in number than their boy counterparts. Patterns of both frequent and occasional tobacco use were same.
It has been noted that definite patterns of tobacco use are remarkably different in boys in Sweden and their counterparts in EU countries. In 2002, the WTO or World Health Organization revealed that daily smoking habit among the boys aged 15 years in 25 European nations – Sweden was excluded from the survey – was 18.7%. The report clearly mentioned that smoking prevalence among 15-year old Swedish boys was lowest of all countries – measured 5.7 % which was nearly one third of the average in EU countries. There are reasons to believe that high level of Swedish tobacco snus use among Swedish boys has resulted into low prevalence of smoking among them. Smoking prevalence among 15-year old Swedish girls is not different from the same aged girls in other countries of Europe.
In the 2002 report by WHO, Sweden ranked as the fifth lowest European country (15%) in terms of smoking prevalence among girls. However, the figure was still close to the average for other countries.
Teenagers are more prone to tobacco use, no matter whatever measures are adopted to keep them away from smoking or other forms of tobacco stuff. And now you can easily avail cigarettes and even buy smokeless tobacco online. We have learnt an amazing pattern of addiction from Sweden and it is that most of the boys pick up snus which their grandfathers also used. Last but not the least, famous ‘Swedish snus experience’ is not only enjoyed by men but women are also using different snus products which are more acceptable in society due to their smoke-free and spit-free features.
Author’s Bio: Ron William has shared some statistical data and studies on prevalence of swedish snus online shop in Sweden. If you want to learn more in this regard, visit snuscentral.org or contact the author at snuscentral.org/contact-us