There is increasing evidence that hookah smoking directly affects heart rate and blood pressure and greatly increases the risk of heart disease. This is what the American Heart Association warns about. Hookah smoking is becoming increasingly popular among young people around the world. The authors of a new report on the harms of smoking on the so-called shisha warn that the perception that it is less harmful than cigarettes is absolutely wrong
"Many young people mistakenly believe that hookah smoking is not as harmful as smoking tobacco because the tobacco is filtered through water, but there is still no scientific evidence to support this claim," explains lead study author Aruni Bhatnagar, who is a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
"Hookah smoking carries he alth risks such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and heart attack," he claimed.
"Hookah smoke contains many of the same toxic chemicals found in cigarettes, and sometimes much more than in cigarettes," reveals Bhatnagar.
indicates that hookah smoking and cigarette smoking have very similar negative effects on the human body. But in one session of hookah use, usually 30 minutes, the smoker ingests higher levels of toxic substances than when smoking a single cigarette. Hookah smoking involves greater amounts of pollutants and is inhaled in higher concentrations than cigarettes. These toxic particles can be harmful to he alth because they irritate the eyes, nose or throat, enter the lungs and even the blood.
Hookah also contains other potentially harmful chemicals that can affect the smoker's cardiovascular system, such as nicotine or lead. Most of these chemicals are in higher concentration in hookah than in cigarette smoke. This is due to the burning of the coals in the hookah and the different duration of its smoking.
Continuous hookah smoking also leads to an increased risk of coronary artery disease, according to the report. Studies in Pakistan and India show that "people who smoke hookah regularly have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease," Bhatnagar said.
