There's an added reason why smokers should stop hitting cigarettes.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden discovered smoking is likely to lead to the loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells, which leads to a greater risk of cancer. It's more common among heavy smokers than moderate smokers.

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Researchers found the phenomenon is common among men, mainly because women have only two X chromosomes. This explains why risk of cancer is more prominent among the male population, researchers say.

"We have previously in 2014 demonstrated an association between loss of the Y chromosome in blood and greater risk for cancer. We now tested if there were any lifestyle or clinical factors that could be linked to loss of the Y chromosome," said Lars Forsberg, researcher at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University.

The new study involved 6,000 older men, both smokers and non-smokers that were grouped into three different experiments.

The tests revealed that 15 percent of men aged 70 and older showed a considerable Y chromosome loss in at least 10 percent of their blood cells.

Another discovery showed that current smokers are at a double to quadruple the risk of losing Y chromosomes in comparison to non-smokers.

Fortunately, scientists say there's good news, however. Men that quit smoking at one point of their lives have an almost equal amount of Y chromosome loss to people who never smoked.

On the other hand, researchers did not explain clearly how the loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells caused by smoking is associated with the development of cancer in the whole body. They suggest smoking might have reduced the capacity of immune cells to fight cancer cells.

Researchers want to do another study related to smoking to better understand cancer and how to fight it.

The study was published in the journal, Science.

Tagss smoking, male smoker, risk of cancer, chromosome, blood cancer, blood cells, Cancer, blood pressure, smoking effects, Y chromosome, Y chromosome loss