Hookah may give you a heart attack, finds study

The smoke emitted from hookah makes your blood clot way faster than normal, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

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Written By: IANS | Updated : January 18, 2020 1:05 PM IST

Researchers have found that tobacco smoke from a hookah caused blood to function abnormally and be more likely to clot and quickly form blood clots, which can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, found that tobacco smoke from a hookah caused blood clots to form within an average of about 11 seconds, compared to an average of five minutes for clotting without exposure to hookah smoke.

Exposure to the hookah smoke also caused other abnormalities related to the way the blood flows, the research added.

Some studies have found that the smoke emitted from one hookah tobacco smoking episode contains significantly more harmful chemicals compared to a single cigarette.

"Our findings provide new evidence that hookah smoking is as unhealthy - if not more so - than traditional cigarettes. "Smoking a hookah, cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other forms of tobacco all increase your risk for heart diseaseand stroke," said study researcher Fadi Khasawneh from University of Texas in the US.

In this study, researchers exposed mice to hookah smoke from a smoking machine that mimicked real-life smoking habits.

The smoking machine used 12 grams of commercially available, flavoured tobacco that included tobacco, glycerin, molasses and natural flavour with nicotine and tar.

Researchers then compared platelet activity among the exposed versus the unexposed mice.

The study simulated the type of nicotine exposure that occurs with smoking a hookah, which the researchers verified by measuring the levels of cotinine, the nicotine metabolite.

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