Light Smoking Impairs Arterial Health, Study Finds

Light Smoking Impairs Arterial Health, Study Finds
November 2, 2009

Research Summary

Young smokers suffer reduced cardiovascular function even if they smoke only a few cigarettes per day, according to research from Stella Daskalopoulou at the McGill University Health Center.

Medical News Today reported Oct. 27 that Daskalopoulou and colleagues found arterial stiffness rose 25 percent when healthy 18- to- 30-year-olds smoked even a single cigarette. That makes the heart work harder and can increase risk of blood clots and high blood pressure, researchers said.

"Young adults aged 20-24 years have the highest smoking rate of all age groups in Canada," noted Daskalopoulou. "Our results are significant because they suggest that smoking just a few cigarettes a day impacts the health of the arteries. This was revealed very clearly when these young people were placed under physical stress, such as exercise."

When nonsmokers exercised, their arterial stiffness decreased, but the opposite was true of smokers.

The findings were presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by maxwood on 02 Nov 09 07:43 PM EST

This doesn't surprise me, every drag on a $igarette is a sledgehammer blow (pardon the pun), but I'm disappointed that researchers aren't busier looking into vaporizer and e-cigarette, both of which might be the answer if a way can be found to counteract the "square" advertising holocaust. And Godshall, get in here and make your case for smokeless!

Posted by Bill Godshall on 03 Nov 09 01:14 PM EST

This study confirms the findings of other studies, with inhaled CO from tobacco smoke the probable culprit as it travels throughout the bodies circulatory system. Since smokefree tobacco/nicotine products (including smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, nicotine gums, lozenges, patches) emit ZERO CO (nor 10,000 other contaminants in tobacco smoke), substiting them for cigarettes is a far far less hazardous way of consuming nicotine. Unfortunately, abstinence-only anti-tobacco/nicotine extremists only want to give addicted cigarette smokers two options; quit or die. They also are likely cite this (and similar studies) to argue that even occassional smoking should not be tolerated (because it poses some risks). But in fact, occassional smoking poses significantly fewer health risks than does smoking a pack per day.

Posted by Diane on 03 Nov 09 02:51 PM EST

Mr. Maxwood, in order for a study to be valid, you can only study one variable at a time. Studying e-cigarettes is for another study. Mr. Godshall, I haven't read the study yet, so I don't know if the researchers attributed their findings to CO, some other drug, or merely lack of oxygen, so I don't know that e-cigarettes would be an acceptable substitute. Given that there are so many other vehicles for consuming the highly addictive substance nicotine, why don't the tobacco companies focus on these and give up on cigarettes all together? They would be out from under almost all current legislation and probably future lawsuits as well.

Posted by Carol on 10 Nov 09 09:51 AM EST

They're guilty of fraud for claiming that smoking causes heart disease in the first place. It is a fact that, since the 1960s, the death rates from heart disease have declined just as much among smokers as among non-smokers, and also just as much among women as among men, despite the different initial rates of smoking (and thus of quitting). The evidence is consistent with different rates of exposure to true causal factors (probably infectious) between smokers and non-smokers, which are due to socioeconomic factors. They're guilty of flagrant fraud for ignoring cytomegalovirus (CMV). http://www.smokershistory.com/CMVHD.htm

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