The Enstrom-Breslow study of 9,844 active California LDS members found a smoking-related cancer standardized mortality ratio of just 16 for men — meaning LDS men die of tobacco-linked cancers at 84% below the U.S. average.
Overall cancer mortality for LDS men was 47 (53% below average) and for women 66 (34% below average). The Word of Wisdom — the LDS health code that prohibits tobacco — was written in 1833. The science establishing tobacco as carcinogenic wasn't published until the 1950s.
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