Which of these kills the most people in the US every year: Guns, Sugar, Marijuana, Cigarettes, or Salt

TCB wrote:

I haven't done the research but I suspect the order is:

1. Salt

2. Sugar

3. Cigarettes

4. Guns

5. Marijuana

I'll let someone else look up the statistics, I'm too lazy.

This is a stupid comparison. You can't live without salt. Sugar doesn't kill anyone directly. Cigarettes kill people even when used "correctly". You can argue guns do also.

1 Sugar

2 Cigs

3 Guns

4 Marijuana

5 Salt

Wendell Gee wrote:

This is a stupid comparison. You can't live without salt. .

You can't live without sugar either.

that was not the point i was trying to make. of course you cant live without salt. but because people use it incorrectly, it kills a lot of people, just as sugar and cigarettes do. excess sodium consumption leads to leads to heart disease, which is the cause of a quarter of deaths in america every year. not all are a direct result of excess sodium, but i bet a big chunk is.

No question about 4 and 5. The only possible debate would be over 1,2, and 3.

I would guess:

1. Cigarettes

2. Salt

3. Sugar

During the great anti-tobacco crusade of the Clinton years, the press routinely reported smoking deaths as being in the range of 400,000/yr and overeating/diet slightly less, in the range of 300,000/yr IIRC.

In spite of two decades and billions of dollars worth of of anti-tobacco haranguing it was recently reported that the US smoking rate is still about 20%. Even if obesity is on the rise, we would have to combine sugar and salt as one category to get close to smoking.

Note also that a comparison between guns and cigs/diet is misleading because the latter two do not really 'kill' but rather cause a long slow decline in health and reduction by avg 5-10 years in lifespan.

And numbers regarding guns themselves tend to be very problematic for various reasons. About half of gun deaths are suicide, which would presumably be carried out by other means if guns were unavailable.

Recent research has suggest that eating too much salt is hard for most people. Do a google for it and read the reports from the last 5 years. It turns out 80s nutrition advice was crap:) A lot of the bad stuff from salt is a correlation rather than causation. Sugar is equally debateable. Is it the sugar killing you or that extra 80lbs (does that come from the sugar or the fat you eat? Or your lack of exercise?)Obviously MJ kills a lot of people. Don\'t all the advocates say we are locking up millions of users and since prisoners die something like a decade earlier than average, MJ is a killer.

TCB wrote:

that was not the point i was trying to make. of course you cant live without salt. but because people use it incorrectly, it kills a lot of people, just as sugar and cigarettes do. excess sodium consumption leads to leads to heart disease, which is the cause of a quarter of deaths in america every year. not all are a direct result of excess sodium, but i bet a big chunk is.

i think towhee is right, i found this: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30. people should stop smoking.

Can we add Craigslist to this list? I think it kills more people every year then marijuana.

You can most definitely live without sugar. Fat and protein are necessary for survival and health (along with many, many other vitamins, minerals, etc.) Carbohydrates are not necessary for survival.

I'm not saying all carbohydrate foods are bad. Many are, many aren't. Unlike fat and protein, they aren't essential for life.

Most people will see a dramatic change - for the better - in their health if they dropped sugar from their diet.

I heard a doctor talking about various factors of lifespan, and he said there was research showing that religion increases avg. lifespan by 7 years or so.

In fact he said that smoking decreases avg lifespan by about the same 7 years. So perhaps we should have PSA's by health nannies urging us to attend church, mosque, etc. And maybe a $200 billion lawsuit against Hitchens, Dawkins, Sam Harris, and other anti-religionists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/401091.stm

large US study found that religious folk had lower blood pressure, less depression and anxiety, stronger immune systems and generally cost the health-care system less than people who were less involved in religion.

... Similar results were produced by the University of California at Berkeley in a study of some 5,000 people aged 21 to 65.

Can you smoke at a low level, say 3-5 cigs per day, and live a normal life?

asdfasdfasdasdfasdfasdfa wrote:

Obviously MJ kills a lot of people. Don't all the advocates say we are locking up millions of users and since prisoners die something like a decade earlier than average, MJ is a killer.

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say, but any thought of MJ being a killer is completely false. Marijuana has never caused any kind of lethal overdose.

*Salt - 800,000 Smoking - 440,000**Sugar - 233,619 Guns - 34,000 (not including war deaths) Marijuana - Don't Know* Not very reliable estimate. These estimates assume everyone responds equally to salt. In reality high salt only increases bp in a small fraction of people. Most people with high bp are salt insensitive.** Based only proven link with disease - type 2 diabetes.

TCB wrote:

I haven't done the research but I suspect the order is:

1. Salt

2. Sugar

3. Cigarettes

4. Guns

5. Marijuana

I'll let someone else look up the statistics, I'm too lazy.

MJ leads to prison. Prison leads to a shorter life. IE MJ kills.That is pretty much the logic used against salt and sugar.

im not even gonna use caps wrote:

asdfasdfasdasdfasdfasdfa wrote:

Obviously MJ kills a lot of people. Don\'t all the advocates say we are locking up millions of users and since prisoners die something like a decade earlier than average, MJ is a killer.

I\'m not exactly sure what you are trying to say, but any thought of MJ being a killer is completely false. Marijuana has never caused any kind of lethal overdose.

Try going a month eating zero carbs and get back to us on how essential they are for life. Hell I would be impressed if you could get by on just 10% since finding foods that low in carbs is hard.

jacabo wrote:

You can most definitely live without sugar. Fat and protein are necessary for survival and health (along with many, many other vitamins, minerals, etc.) Carbohydrates are not necessary for survival.

I\'m not saying all carbohydrate foods are bad. Many are, many aren\'t. Unlike fat and protein, they aren\'t essential for life.

Most people will see a dramatic change - for the better - in their health if they dropped sugar from their diet.

TCB wrote:

I haven't done the research but I suspect the order is:

1. Salt

2. Sugar

3. Cigarettes

4. Guns

5. Marijuana

I'll let someone else look up the statistics, I'm too lazy.

Heart disease is the leading CAUSE of death. So we can say all but guns contribute.

MJ in itself doesn't kill you - the estimated lethal dose is 100lbs/minute for 15 minutes. That's a serious bong hit.

However, smoking (anything) contributes to heart disease.

Salt/sodium in combination w/ other things like animal fat contributes to heart disease. Japanese eat 10x the recommended sodium and live longer w/ lower incidence of heart disease.

We're all dead eventually...

towhee wrote:

I heard a doctor talking about various factors of lifespan, and he said there was research showing that religion increases avg. lifespan by 7 years or so.

In fact he said that smoking decreases avg lifespan by about the same 7 years. So perhaps we should have PSA's by health nannies urging us to attend church, mosque, etc. And maybe a $200 billion lawsuit against Hitchens, Dawkins, Sam Harris, and other anti-religionists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/401091.stm

large US study found that religious folk had lower blood pressure, less depression and anxiety, stronger immune systems and generally cost the health-care system less than people who were less involved in religion.

... Similar results were produced by the University of California at Berkeley in a study of some 5,000 people aged 21 to 65.

I think religious people tend to be more content than non-religious folk. If an invisible being you can't see, hear or touch, is gonna make it alright as long as she submit yourself to Him....why worry?

Are you retarded? You cannot live without carbohydrates. They are necessary for life.

The Atkins Diet probably killed more people that sugar and salt combined.

When's the last time someone OD'ed on weed?