These appealing, hand-wrapped smokes come tied with a short length of thread giving them the hip look of a marijuana joint. They cost less than Marlboros or Camels and come in assorted flavors such as chocolate, mango, orange and lemon-lime. The word on the street is that bidis are safer to smoke because they are perceived as being herbal, a concept reinforced by the fact that they are sold in health food stores. Surveys show that teens don't consider them to be as harmful as other cigarettes. But the truth is they are cigarettes and carry the same health risks as their tobacco counterparts.
Studies show that bidi smokers get cancer, too.
So says a new study out of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. William Garrett, Jr. explained that women tend to hold themselves in a more erect position than men during certain running and cutting maneuvers and may therefore place excessive force on the quadricep muscles at the front of the thigh while putting less force on the hamstrings at the back of the thigh. Researchers found the females were much less likely to bend at the knee and hip during these activities. Women also had less knee rotation and less hamstring activation than males. Noting that 70 percent of ACL injuries occur because of a misstep and not as a result of a collision, Garrett suggested that if women run in a more crouched position they might reduce their susceptibility to ACL injury.