What is more harmful: alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or sugar?

The Wall Street Journal together with the NBC television company learned the opinion of thousands of Americans that, in their opinion, is more harmful: tobacco, alcohol, sugar or marijuana.

Almost half - 49% of respondents - answered that they considered cigarettes the most harmful of the list, 24% were in favor of alcohol, 15% chose sugar and only 8% thought that marijuana was the most dangerous to health on this list.

However, doctors have a different opinion. Dr. Michael Pantelon of Yale University, in an interview with the Epoch Times, set the priorities differently.

“The question “what is more harmful?” placed incorrectly. It all depends on a number of factors and their combination. The most important factors are the dose and duration of exposure of the substance to the body,” says Dr. Pantelon.

He noted that he considers alcohol as the most harmful and dangerous for health. Alcohol intoxication, especially when people drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time, can lead to serious consequences for the body and even death. In addition, the mass of car accidents and violence occur due to excessive alcohol consumption. Long-term alcohol dependence can also destroy not only the health, but also the social status of a person, as well as relationships with relatives.

In the second place doctors put cigarettes. The association of nicotine use with serious diseases of the internal organs, including lung cancer, is irrefutable.

Dr. Pantelon named marijuana the third most harmful to humans. Despite the fact that most Americans consider it less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes, doctors still don't know exactly what the consequences of long-term marijuana use are. Science still has a lot of research to do on this topic. Also, to this day, experts disagree on how much marijuana you need to smoke before driving is risky. Additionally, marijuana—contrary to another common misconception—is addictive.

Sugar took fourth place. Despite the fact that sweet foods cannot be called healthy and sugar abuse will sooner or later lead to health problems (diabetes, obesity - just a few of them), sweets are much less harmful than alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana.