Even one cigarette a day is deadly, study finds

Even occasional smoking - as little as half a cigarette a day - can be deadly, health officials warn in a new government study.

People who restrict themselves to fewer than seven smokes a week still have a 64 percent higher risk of an early death than non-smokers.

That figure is not far off the risk for heavy smokers, who are 87 per cent more likely to develop a life-threatening disease, according to the Daily Mail.

But researchers at the National Institutes of Health warn more and more people claim to smoke fewer than 10 a day, in the belief that it is healthier.

"The results of this study support health warnings that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke,' said lead investigator Maki Inoue-Choi.

"Together, these findings indicate that smoking even a small number of cigarettes per day has substantial negative health effects and provide further evidence that smoking cessation benefits all smokers, regardless of how few cigarettes they smoke."

Read the full story on the NZ Herald.