Pregnant - it's best to be tobacco free to avoid a miscarriage..

September 6, 2010 - A Swedish study by the Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University warned that women who uses snus are 60 percent more likely to misscarry than average.

“Stillbirth is probably one of the worst things that can happen to parents who are expecting a baby. That also snus increases the risk of this underlines the importance of being complete tobacco-free when you are pregnant”, Anna-Karin Wikström at the Uppsala University Hospital Women's clinic told newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning.

Snus, a moist powder tobacco product that you consume by placing it under the lip, is said to be much less dangerous than smoking. But to take up snus in order to quit smoking may be contra productive. A woman who smokes just a few cigarettes a day has 40 percent higher risk of miscarriage.

"Taking the help of snus to quit smoking is a bad option to protect children", said Anna-Karin Wikström.

The study, that was launched more than ten years ago, involved almost 570,000 women.

The small, teabag-like pouches, also called moist snuff, are used by nearly one million Swedes. Placed under the user's lip, they quickly deliver a nicotine rush to the blood and a strong salt and herbs flavour in the mouth. While cigarette sales have tumbled by 50 percent in Sweden over the past 30 years, snus is on the up, with sales rising from some 2,500 tonnes a year in the 1970s to almost 7,500 tonnes in 2008.

Sweden is the only EU member state where sales are permitted. (EU Scientific Committee Concludes: Insufficent Evidence to Lift Ban on SNUS.); also SNUS pouches are promoted as being spitless..); The Art of Snusing..)

Reference: Snus increases miscarriage risk drastically, Author: Johan Nylander, The Swedish Wire, 9/5/2010.