Hookah Smoke Contains More Toxins than Cigarette
A study reveals that a single ‘hookah’ session pumps a large load of toxicants into a human body than smoking a single conventional cigarette.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of the Pittsburgh who compiled the results of 17 out of 542 separate researches on the effects of tobacco use. It aims to tackle the intricate studies done in the past about the rising popularity of hookah smoking, especially among the youth.
The practice of hookah is social as multiple people gather around one pipe which may explain its popularity among teens.
However, the meta-analysis of the recent study concluded that smoking tobacco through a hookah, an ancient water pipe used for communal smoking delivers 25 times the tar, 2.5 times the nicotine ang 10 times carbon monoxide than a stick of cigarette.
In a press release, lead author of the study Dr. Brian Primack of the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine recommended a close monitoring of hookah tobacco consumption.
“Our results show that hookah tobacco smoking poses real health concerns and that it should be monitored more closely than it is currently.”
Moreover, Primack clarified the conclusion of the study cannot estimate which is worse between cigarette and hookah, especially that people smoke in different ways.
“The estimates we found cannot tell us exactly what is ‘worse’. But what they do suggest is that hookah smokers are exposed to a lot more toxicants than they probably realize,” Primack claimed.