Forskere friskmelder snusen.  Researchers report that snus is healthy.  The word friskmelder does not have an exact translation in English, but I suppose I wouldn’t say researchers think snus is ‘healthy’, but rather not unhealthy, not dangerous.  For those of you who don’t know what snus is, it is a smokeless form of tobacco, also known as chew, chaw, or a dip. Snus (pronounced ‘snoose’ and actually a word that Americans and others outside of Scandinavia use) has a two unique characteristics 1-it usually does not require spitting and 2-it is steam-cured rather than fire-cured and is not fermented and thus there is no added sugar.  Snus is a moist powder form of tobacco that is placed usually in the upper lip (hence one of the reasons that it doesn’t require spitting, because there is less moisture from saliva up there) for up to 30 minutes and then discarded.  It comes in loose form (fun to say, loose snus, which is packed into a cylindar or sphere called a pris or prilla-slang for pris) or in portioned pouches (which are made of the same material as teabags) and come in a tin similar to Skoal or Copehagen.  Snus is very popular in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden and Norway.

As with many health-related issues, there is debate among researchers over whether snus is better for one’s health than smoking cigarettes, and even if snus is damaging to health at all.  An article in Aftenposten online yesterday addressed a recent study by British researchers, who concluded that snus is not unhealthy.  Most people (including researchers) will definitely agree that using snus is much less harmfull than smoking cigarettes (å røyke sigaretter is ‘to smoke cigarettes) because snus does not involve inhalation, and thus does not affect the lungs.

I was introduced to snus during my time abroad by my friend Jeff who used it.  I decided to try it one time and after that I used it on an occasional basis with him.  I don’t want to encourage starting to use snus or anything, but certainly for those of you who smoke, perhaps it would be a better alternative. 

As cigarette sales dip in the U.S. due to steep price increases for cigarettes and bans on smoking in public places, tobacco companies have started to really advertise and promote snus.  Camel has several versions of the pouches. 

A large portion of the Swedish and Norwegian population use snus, both men and women.  Leave it to them to find a healthier alternative to cigarettes.  Once again, evidence of a healthier population than the U.S. and much of the rest of the world.