Smokers, listen up. If you’ve been struggling to kick the habit, then this video might just put you off for good.
The graphic clip from MEDspiration offers a glimpse of what your lungs would apparently look like after smoking 20 cigarettes.
It shows a blackened trachea and discoloured lungs - all after smoking the contents of just one pack.
Medical students put a pair of lungs in a glass box, which had a funnel leading straight to a cigarette - much like the opening of a person’s mouth.
A series of cigarettes were then lit, with the toxins being directed straight into the “healthy” lungs.
After a pack of Marlboro menthol cigarettes had been “smoked”, scientists cut open the trachea (also known as the windpipe) to find it was covered in a thick coating of black tar.
When they cut into the lungs, the organs had been discoloured.
It is estimated that every cigarette a person smokes reduces their lifespan by 11 minutes and researchers believe that overall there’s a 6.5 year difference in life expectancy between smokers and non smokers.
While the experiment was incredibly eye-opening, there were a few downsides to it - as some Facebook users were quick to point out.
Firstly, the set up showed the result of smoking 20 cigarettes on the trot, without a break. Secondly, at no point did the scientific apparatus depicting a human body exhale any smoke.
The harmful effects of smoking are clear though - and the benefits of quitting far outweigh any negatives.
According to the NHS, people breathe more easily and cough less when they give up smoking because their lung capacity improves by up to 10% within nine months.
Within two to 12 weeks of quitting your blood circulation improves. This can lead to heightened sensitivity, meaning better sex.
Taste and smell also improves, as does fertility.
12 Undeniable Facts About Smoking
FACT 1(01 of12)
Open Image ModalEvery cigarette you smoke reduces your expected life span by 11 minutes. (credit:Jasper White via Getty Images)
FACT 2(02 of12)
Open Image ModalThere are roughly 10 million adults who smoke cigarettes in Great Britain. (credit:Bertrand Demee via Getty Images)
FACT 3(03 of12)
Open Image ModalTwo-thirds of smokers start before the age 18. (credit:Flying Colours Ltd via Getty Images)
FACT 4(04 of12)
Open Image ModalThe proportion of the population who are smokers has decreased since the 1970s. A sixth of the population smoke now, in comparison to nearly half of the adult population smoking in 1974. (credit:Dražen LovriÄ via Getty Images)
FACT 7(05 of12)
Open Image ModalTobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds including: carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, benzene, toluene and acrolein. (credit:murengstockphoto via Getty Images)
FACT 8(06 of12)
Open Image ModalSmoking poses a huge risk to your cardiovascular system.It also steals some of your good cholesterol, increases the risk of clotting and temporarily raises your blood pressure. (credit:Jeffrey Hamilton via Getty Images)
FACT 9(07 of12)
Open Image ModalImmediately after you quit smoking, your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs start to repair themselves. (credit:Oko_SwanOmurphy via Getty Images)
FACT 10(08 of12)
Open Image ModalSmoking is England’s biggest killer. Half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their addiction. (credit:Westend61 via Getty Images)
FACT 11(09 of12)
Open Image Modal100,000 smokers in the UK die every year from smoking related causes. (credit:Shui Ta Shan via Getty Images)
FACT 12(10 of12)
Open Image ModalIn 2012-13 the Government earned £12.3 billion in revenue from tobacco tax. (credit:Jasper James via Getty Images)
FACT 13(11 of12)
Open Image ModalUsage of electronic cigarettes has tripled in the past two years. 2.1 million adults in Great Britain now use them. (credit:diego_cervo via Getty Images)
FACT 14(12 of12)
Open Image ModalA report by Dr Robert West of University College London found that e-cigarette use from popular brands is expected to be at least 20 times safer (and probably considerably more so) than smoking tobacco cigarettes. (credit:mangojuicy via Getty Images)