Studies measuring LDS members specifically — not Utah residents broadly — found a 24% lower overall cancer rate compared to the general U.S. population.
LDS women showed a 60% lower rate of smoking-associated cancers. Active LDS members were approximately 35% as likely to contract or die from cancer as the general population.
These reductions are consistent with the LDS health code (Word of Wisdom), which advises against tobacco use. The code was established in 1833, more than a century before the Surgeon General's 1964 report linking smoking to cancer.
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