People who use smokeless tobacco products as an alternative to smoking are still more likely to die of lung cancer and heart disease than those who quit, WebMD reported Feb. 14.

Researchers compared death rates among 116,000 men, more than 4,000 of whom had switched to smokeless tobacco products and 112,000 who had quit smoking outright. After 20 years, the switchers were 46 percent more likely to die of lung cancer, and twice as likely to die of mouth or throat cancers.

"Smokers who switched to snuff or chewing tobacco had considerably worse health outcomes than those who quit entirely," said researcher Michael Thun, M.D., vice president of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research at the American Cancer Society. "Any smoker who is trying to quit should use proven methods such as nicotine replacement, antidepressants, and behavioral counseling rather than other tobacco products, if they do not succeed in quitting without assistance."

The study was published in the February 2007 issue of the journal Tobacco Control.