Barry B. Halliwell · Henrik E. Poulsen
Editors

2006

From a public health point of view, there is little doubt that one of the most important preventable causes of disease worldwide is tobacco smoking. It is also clear that tobacco smoke contains a vast number of chemicals with important biological effects in disease processes. The gas phase of tobacco smoke is oxidizing, the tar phase is reducing, and whole smoke is roughly neutral, so its effects on oxidative stress may be an “antioxidant paradox.”