> They additionally cite in the article that perhaps it's smoking that's changed, yet that also didn't really significantly change in public until the 90s.
Prevalence of smoking in the US peaked at around 45% in the 1950s, and had dropped to around 25% by the 1990s. (Depending on your own age, this may feel wrong because there was a surge in youth smoking from the 80s peaking in the mid-1990s, so its easy for people in a certainnage range to feel like smoking was very prevalent through the 1990s, and then dropped like a rock.)
Interestingly, there's reasonably good basis to suspect nicotine (though not smoking) can reduce rates of neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
(Not calling healthline a source, but it has links to publications for those interested).
It's important to note, of course, that smoking increases the risk of pretty much every bad health related thing that can happen to you, including dementia. However, using nicotine without smoking might have benefits due to its effects on acetylcholine receptors.
Prevalence of smoking in the US peaked at around 45% in the 1950s, and had dropped to around 25% by the 1990s. (Depending on your own age, this may feel wrong because there was a surge in youth smoking from the 80s peaking in the mid-1990s, so its easy for people in a certainnage range to feel like smoking was very prevalent through the 1990s, and then dropped like a rock.)