Water pipes as harmful as cigarettes
Compared to cigarette smoking, a water pipe - also called a hookah or shisha - delivers more deadly carbon monoxide and roughly the same amount of addictive nicotine.
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Compared to cigarette smoking, a water pipe - also called a hookah or shisha - delivers more deadly carbon monoxide and roughly the same amount of addictive nicotine.
Smoking tobacco with a water pipe has grown in popularity across the world and many think that it's less harmful than smoking cigarettes. But until now, no study has directly compared the toxic chemical exposure associated with water pipe and cigarette smoking under controlled conditions.
To compare the toxicant exposure associated with water pipe tobacco and cigarette smoking, researchers had 31 adult volunteers from America complete two 45-minute smoking sessions - one in which they smoked tobacco using a water pipe and the other in which they smoked a single cigarette. The researchers measured blood levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide, as well as heart rate, number of puffs taken and the puff volume.
It was found that water pipe smokers in the study were exposed to three times the carbon monoxide than those who smoked cigarettes. In addition, it was found that peak nicotine levels did not differ in the water pipe and cigarette smokers, which means that a single waterpipe use exposes users to at least as much nicotine as a single cigarette. There was also evidence that relative to a cigarette, water pipe tobacco smoking generates more than 40 times the smoke volume. Both cigarette and water pipe smoking increased heart rate.
The above findings dispel the myth that water pipe tobacco smoking is a less lethal way of smoking tobacco.
Smoking tobacco with a water pipe has grown in popularity across the world and many think that it's less harmful than smoking cigarettes. But until now, no study has directly compared the toxic chemical exposure associated with water pipe and cigarette smoking under controlled conditions.
To compare the toxicant exposure associated with water pipe tobacco and cigarette smoking, researchers had 31 adult volunteers from America complete two 45-minute smoking sessions - one in which they smoked tobacco using a water pipe and the other in which they smoked a single cigarette. The researchers measured blood levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide, as well as heart rate, number of puffs taken and the puff volume.
It was found that water pipe smokers in the study were exposed to three times the carbon monoxide than those who smoked cigarettes. In addition, it was found that peak nicotine levels did not differ in the water pipe and cigarette smokers, which means that a single waterpipe use exposes users to at least as much nicotine as a single cigarette. There was also evidence that relative to a cigarette, water pipe tobacco smoking generates more than 40 times the smoke volume. Both cigarette and water pipe smoking increased heart rate.
The above findings dispel the myth that water pipe tobacco smoking is a less lethal way of smoking tobacco.
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