Smoking a hookah pipe delivers twenty five times as much cancer causing tar as a single cigarette, according to new research.
Smoking a shisha has become increasingly trendy as an alternative to cigarettes.
The sticky brown tar is the main cause of lung and throat tumours in cigarette smokers, and can also cause unsightly yellow-brown stains on fingers and teeth.
But one session, which normally lasts around 40 to 45 minutes, also produces 125 times the smoke, ten times the carbon monoxide and two and a half times the nicotine of a cigarette, warn scientists.
The alarming findings published in Public Health Reports show the ancient form of smoking, popular in Arab countries, is much more harmful to health than previously believed.
It involves charcoal heated fruit scented tobacco or non tobacco based shisha smoke passing through an ornate water vessel before being inhaled through a hose.
The custom is becoming increasingly popular among young people in the UK and other western countries.
Shisha bars, which are typically decked out with low stools and soft cushions to create an inviting atmosphere, have become common in cities across the UK, especially in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
In the study researchers reviewed 542 scientific articles related to cigarettes and smoking hookah, pooling data from 17 of them to develop accurate and comparable estimates of the toxins humans breath in when they smoke.
Dr Brian Primack, of the University of Pittsburgh, said: "Our results show hookah tobacco smoking poses real health concerns and it should be monitored more closely than it is currently.
"For example, hookah smoking was not included in the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey System questionnaire, which assesses cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and many other forms of substance abuse."As cigarette smoking rates fall, more people are smoking tobacco from the communal pipes that have been viewed as a safer alternative as they enable users to draw tobacco smoke through water. But the research shows they are inhaling a large load of toxicants.Dr Primack and colleagues realised comparing a hookah session with a single cigarette is complex because of the differences in smoking patterns.
A frequent cigarette smoker may smoke 20 cigarettes a day, while a frequent hookah smoker may just participate in a few sessions each day.Dr Primark said: "It is not a perfect comparison because people smoke cigarettes and hookahs in very different ways."We had to conduct the analysis this way - comparing a single hookah session to a single cigarette - because that is the way the underlying studies tend to report findings. So, the estimates we found cannot tell us exactly what is 'worse.'
"But what they do suggest is hookah smokers are exposed to a lot more toxicants than they probably realise.
"After we have more fine grained data about usage frequencies and patterns, we will be able to combine those data with these findings and get a better sense of relative overall toxicant load."
The research team also notes that these findings may be helpful in providing estimates for various official purposes.
Amanda Sandford, of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "We welcome this study. It confirms there is no safe level of tobacco smoke.
"There is a myth with sisha smoking that as the tobacco passes through water it is somehow diluted, but this does not diminish the risks at all.
"The message to come from the latest research is it is not a safer alternative to cigarette smoking."
As well as the cancer and heart disease risk of inhaling chemicals in smoke, high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness.
Last year a survey of more than 12,000 UK adults found one in eight, or 13%, had ever smoked a hookah pipe, with one percent describing themselves as frequent users more than three to four times a month.
The research also showed the number of smokers who had turned to them rose from from 21% in 2014 to 24% in 2015.
Smoking a shisha has become increasingly trendy as an alternative to cigarettes.
The sticky brown tar is the main cause of lung and throat tumours in cigarette smokers, and can also cause unsightly yellow-brown stains on fingers and teeth.
But one session, which normally lasts around 40 to 45 minutes, also produces 125 times the smoke, ten times the carbon monoxide and two and a half times the nicotine of a cigarette, warn scientists.
The alarming findings published in Public Health Reports show the ancient form of smoking, popular in Arab countries, is much more harmful to health than previously believed.
It involves charcoal heated fruit scented tobacco or non tobacco based shisha smoke passing through an ornate water vessel before being inhaled through a hose.
The custom is becoming increasingly popular among young people in the UK and other western countries.
Shisha bars, which are typically decked out with low stools and soft cushions to create an inviting atmosphere, have become common in cities across the UK, especially in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
In the study researchers reviewed 542 scientific articles related to cigarettes and smoking hookah, pooling data from 17 of them to develop accurate and comparable estimates of the toxins humans breath in when they smoke.
Dr Brian Primack, of the University of Pittsburgh, said: "Our results show hookah tobacco smoking poses real health concerns and it should be monitored more closely than it is currently.
"For example, hookah smoking was not included in the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey System questionnaire, which assesses cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and many other forms of substance abuse."As cigarette smoking rates fall, more people are smoking tobacco from the communal pipes that have been viewed as a safer alternative as they enable users to draw tobacco smoke through water. But the research shows they are inhaling a large load of toxicants.Dr Primack and colleagues realised comparing a hookah session with a single cigarette is complex because of the differences in smoking patterns.
A frequent cigarette smoker may smoke 20 cigarettes a day, while a frequent hookah smoker may just participate in a few sessions each day.Dr Primark said: "It is not a perfect comparison because people smoke cigarettes and hookahs in very different ways."We had to conduct the analysis this way - comparing a single hookah session to a single cigarette - because that is the way the underlying studies tend to report findings. So, the estimates we found cannot tell us exactly what is 'worse.'
"But what they do suggest is hookah smokers are exposed to a lot more toxicants than they probably realise.
"After we have more fine grained data about usage frequencies and patterns, we will be able to combine those data with these findings and get a better sense of relative overall toxicant load."
The research team also notes that these findings may be helpful in providing estimates for various official purposes.
Amanda Sandford, of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "We welcome this study. It confirms there is no safe level of tobacco smoke.
"There is a myth with sisha smoking that as the tobacco passes through water it is somehow diluted, but this does not diminish the risks at all.
"The message to come from the latest research is it is not a safer alternative to cigarette smoking."
As well as the cancer and heart disease risk of inhaling chemicals in smoke, high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness.
Last year a survey of more than 12,000 UK adults found one in eight, or 13%, had ever smoked a hookah pipe, with one percent describing themselves as frequent users more than three to four times a month.
The research also showed the number of smokers who had turned to them rose from from 21% in 2014 to 24% in 2015.
Resource: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/8203-Smoking-hookah-pipe-25-times-dangerous/story-28510045-detail/story.html
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