Heat of hookah pipe risks smokers' health, says study

Image for representational purpose only

Washington DC: Do you know that heat of hookah pipe can harm our health? Well, a new study has revealed that the heat of hookah pipe is the biggest health culprit for the smokers.

The findings was conducted by the chemists at the University of Cincinnati and found that hookah tobacco heated electronically kills 70 percent more lung cells than traditional charcoal.

The gooey, flavourful tobacco in hookah pipes is normally burned with specially made charcoal briquettes, which can contain heavy metals or other toxins.

But a study found that a popular alternative - electric heating disks sold in most tobacco shops - might be far more harmful to your health.

The findings heated the same hookah tobacco with two types of commercially available charcoal and an electric heat source sometimes called e-charcoal.

Researchers found that:Lower-toxin charcoal killed 10 percent of lung cells after 24 hours.

Higher-toxin charcoal killed 25 percent of lung cells.E-charcoal killed a whopping 80 percent of lung cells.

Lead author Ryan Saadawi, "We`re never supposed to be surprised in science. I was shocked and excited to open a whole new field of research just based on temperature".

For the latest study, the UC researchers compared two types of commercially available charcoal using the same hookah tobacco.

A chemical analysis revealed one charcoal contained a higher concentration of heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead than the other.

They subjected lung cells to an extract of the resulting hookah smoke at different dilutions.

The sample taken from the lower-toxin charcoal killed about 10 percent of the lung cells after 48 hours.

The second sample, which used charcoal laced with heavy metals, killed about 25 percent of the lung cells.

The study has been presented at American Chemical Society 253rd National Meeting & Exposition.

(With ANI inputs)