From lung cancer to heart disease and chronic bronchitis, it’s fair to say the effects of smoking cigarettes are well documented.
But a new study warns that the risky habit can even leave traces in your bones for centuries after death.
Researchers from the University of Leicester studied human remains buried in England between AD 1150 and 1855.
This timeline effectively sandwiches the arrival of tobacco in Western Europe in the 16th century – an act commonly credited to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1586.
They found that smoking not only stains and makes dents in your teeth, but it leaves tiny chemical molecules in your gnashers – that potentially stay there forever.
Scientists can tell if a deceased individual smoked because of stains or marks on the teeth. For example, dents known as ‘pipe notches’ would have been formed by a tobacco pipe, while ‘lingual staining’ is black or brown marks on the part of the tooth surface facing the tongue
Experts examined 323 sets of skeletons uncovered from two graves in England, some of whom were determined to have smoked tobacco
In the study, the experts set out to find out more about these molecules and the effect they might have on modern-day human health.
‘Our research shows that there are significant differences in the molecular features contained in bone of past tobacco users and non-users,’ said lead author Dr Sarah Inskip, a bioarchaeologist.
‘This potentially shows that we can see the impact that tobacco use has on the structure of our skeletons.’
Generally, scientists can quite easily tell if a deceased individual from hundreds of years ago smoked because of stains or marks on the teeth.
For example, round dents known as ‘pipe notches’ are gradually formed by a mouthpiece of a tobacco pipe.
Many centuries ago, tobacco pipes were made of clay and so were harder than today’s cigarettes, although such dents could potentially be made by today’s plastic vapes.
Meanwhile, ‘lingual staining’ – black or brown marks on the part of the tooth surface facing the tongue – is caused by smoke circulating in and being exhaled from the mouth.
However, sometimes the teeth of a skeleton do not survive or are detached from the rest of the body and lost, making determining whether or not the person smoked more difficult, albeit not impossible.
The scientists established a method that looked for molecular traces of tobacco smoke in the cortical bone – the dense tissue that makes up the outer layer of bones and provides bone strength.
The researchers studied bones from detected tobacco consumers (DTCs) and non-detected tobacco consumers (NTCs). Many archaeological individuals have poorly preserved dental remains or lose their teeth before death, categorizing them as undetermined tobacco consumers (UTCs)
A common date given for the arrival of tobacco in England is July 27, 1586, when it is said Sir Walter Raleigh brought it to England from Virginia. Pictured, a portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh smoking (circa 16th century)
They examined 323 sets of skeletons uncovered from two graves in England, some of whom were determined to have smoked tobacco.
The total included 177 adult individuals from St James’s Garden Burial Ground in Euston, London dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
The remaining 146 individuals were taken from a rural church cemetery in Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire.
Remains at Barton-upon-Humber included those who lived before the introduction of tobacco in Europe (AD 1150-1500 AD) and those who lived after (AD 1500-1855 AD).
By analysing human skeletal remains from both before and after tobacco was introduced to Western Europe, researchers were able to ‘clearly’ identify bone changes.
The team identified 45 ‘discriminating molecular features’ that differed between tobacco smokers and non-smokers.
What’s more, the team were able to identify whether previously ‘undetermined’ skeletons were smokers or not, by identifying molecular similarities with them and the known smokers.
‘Tobacco consumption leaves a metabolic record in human bone distinctive enough to identify its use in individuals of unknown tobacco consumption,’ the team say in their paper, published in Science Advances.
Sometimes the teeth of a skeleton do not survive or are detached from the rest of the body and lost, making a simple judgement of whether or not that person smoked not possible
From lung cancer to heart disease and chronic bronchitis, it’s fair to say the lethal effects of smoking cigarettes are well documented (file photo)
Overall, the study shows that tobacco consumption leaves a metabolic record in human cortical bone even hundreds of years after death.
This may have significance for understanding why tobacco use is a risk factor for some musculoskeletal and dental disorders.
‘This groundbreaking research shows that archaeo-metabolomics has a lot to offer in terms of understanding past phenotypes, like tobacco smoking,’ they say.
‘[This] can help us better understand health conditions in the past and their relationship to current trends.’
Looking forward, the team want to continue to get a better understanding of how tobacco impacted the health of past populations since its popularization around the world.
Tobacco was introduced to Western Europe from the Americas in the 16th century and has been present in England since at least the 1560s.
It’s thought sailors returning from Atlantic voyages captained by the English naval commander Sir John Hawkins brought it home after a voyage to Florida in 1565.
‘The Smoker Allegory of Transience’ by Hendrick van Someren, painted circa 1615 to 1625, depicts an old man smoking on a clay pipe
However, a more common date given for the arrival of tobacco in England is July 27, 1586, when it is said Sir Walter Raleigh brought it to England from Virginia.
Smoking tobacco was purported to have huge and varied medicinal properties, its use becoming commonplace by the 17th century.
This is even though James I of England and James VI of Scotland condemned the use of tobacco in 1604 on the grounds of its poisonous effects on the body.
James wrote that smoking was a ‘custome lothesome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black and stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible stygian [very dark] smoke of the pit that is bottomless’.
