Smoking Emasculates Men: Tobacco Use Deletes Their Y Chromosomes

Male smokers face a greater risk at cancer than their female counterparts, a new research suggests. Smoking is said to cause loss of the male Y chromosome in the blood cells.

A team of researchers at the Uppsala University in Sweden found that heavy smokers are more susceptible to lose Y chromosomes, which are important for sex determination and sperm production, than moderate smokers.  

These findings may explain why more men develop and die from cancer than women since only men have the Y chromosome. While the exact relationship of cancer and Y chromosomes is still indefinite, Y chromosomes are believed to aid with tumor containment, the TIME reported.

Published in the journal Science, the study used data on more than 6,000 men about their age, education status, exercise habits, cholesterol levels, alcohol intake and other factors concerning their health and behavior.

Lars Forsberg, researcher at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University said: "We have previously in 2014 demonstrated an association between loss of the Y chromosome in blood and greater risk for cancer," the Business Standard reported.

"We now tested if there were any lifestyle or clinical factors that could be linked to loss of the Y chromosome," Forsberg added.

Researchers have discovered that the loss of Y chromosomes appeared to be dose-dependent. The results also suggested that loss of Y chromosome due to smoking may be reversible as some men who had quit smoking appeared to have regained their Y chromosomes.

"These results indicate that smoking can cause loss of the Y chromosome and that this process might be reversible," said Forsberg. 

"We found that the frequency of cells with loss of the Y chromosome was not different among ex-smokers compared to men who had never smoked. This discovery could be very persuasive for motivating smokers to quit," he added.

With the American Cancer Society expecting lung cancer to kill nearly 160,000 people in the United States in 2014, this study shows that it is not yet too late to quit smoking.