Light low tar cigarettes deteriorate blood flow as severe as regular cigarettes
Low tar "lite" cigarettes deteriorate blood flow through the heart as strictly as regular cigarettes, reports a small study published in the journal Heart.
The information is based on 62 people in their mid 20s, with no hint on coronary artery disease.
Twenty smoked low tar, low nicotine cigarettes (8 mg tar, 0.6 mg nicotine, and 9 mg carbon monoxide) for at least three years.
Twenty others smoked regular cigs for the same period (12 mg tar, 0.9 mg nicotine, and 12 mg carbon monoxide), and the rest were non-smokers.
Cigs smoking provokes a fifth of all deaths from cardiovascular disease and doubles the risk of heart failure in later life.
All participants were estimated for cardiovascular fitness, and in the case of the smokers, these tests were carried out two days before and 30 minutes after smoking two of their habitual cigaretes within 15 minutes.
The researchers specialized on coronary flow rate reserve (CFVR), which is measures readiness of coronary arteries to dilate in response to increased blood flow.
The two groups of smokers were close in terms of their general health and the number of cigarettes they usually smoked.
The test results demonstrated that blood pressure and heart rate both climbed after smoking, irrespective of cigarette type.
The authors inform that their results show that both light cigarettes and regular cigarettes deteriorate blood flow through the coronary arteries to an analogous degree. They add that a lot of smokers choose the cigs with low tar and low nicotine cigarettes in the false belief that they will diminish some of the dangerous effects of smoking.
