Can you get cancer from smoking hookah

Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. The popularity of hookah smoking, in which a fruit-flavored tobacco product is inhaled through a glass pipe, is raising concerns about harmful effects such as cancer and other medical conditions. Hookah smoke contains many of the same carcinogens present in tobacco smoke. There is some indication, in fact, that hookah smoke may be even more dangerous, depending on factors such as how much smoke is inhaled and how deeply.

Hookah smoking is especially popular among teens and young adults, most of whom appear to be unaware that what they're inhaling is as potentially dangerous as cigarette smoke. As of Dec. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Infection CDC , hookah smoke is at least as toxic as cigarette smoke: A review of studies looking at the potential toxins in hookah smoke found that it contains 27 known or suspected carcinogens.

Several of these were found to be in higher concentrations in hookah smoke than in cigarette smoke, including carbon monoxide from the charcoal that is used to heat the water in a hookah pipie , which can contribute to heart disease; benzene; and high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs for which levels are higher in hookah smoke than cigarette smoke. One reason hookah smoke may be more toxic than cigarette smoke is that more smoke is inhaled. In a typical "session" of water-pipe smoking roughly an hour , puffs are inhaled versus the 20 puffs ordinarily inhaled in smoking a single cigarette.

This translates into a typical hookah session resulting in the inhalation of 90, milliliters ml of smoke as compared to the to ml of smoke inhaled with a cigarette. People tend to inhale hookah smoke more deeply into the lungs than they do cigarette smoke. Although it hasn't been established that this is significant, it may help to look at changes in lung cancer rates after the addition of filters to cigarettes.

Before cigarettes had filters, the smoke was not inhaled as deeply and was more likely to cause a type of lung cancer known as squamous cell carcinoma. This type of lung cancer occurs most often in the large airways entering the lungs the bronchi and due to this location, tends to be discovered at an earlier stage of the disease because it leads to symptoms such as coughing, coughing up blood, wheezing, and frequent infections due to airway obstruction. With the addition of filters to cigarettes, lung adenocarcinoma became more common.

This type of lung cancer often occurs in the periphery of the lungs, and due to this location, is often found in the later stages of the disease. It is the nicotine in cigarettes that leads to addiction and nicotine is present in hookah smoke just as it is in cigarette smoke. Despite advertising to the contrary, hookah smoke does contain tar as well. It is the process of burning with cigarettes or heating with hookah which creates tar. In fact, hookah smoking may result in higher exposure to tar as it is smoked for a longer period of time and requires a stronger drag.

Hookah smokers may be at risk for the same cancers caused by cigarette smoking , including:. Just as with cigarette smoking, there are many other health conditions related to hookah smoking that go beyond cancer.

Although cigarette smoking is sometimes associated with weight loss, the opposite appears to be true with hookah smoking. A meta-analysis of studies looking at the association between obesity and hookah smoking revealed that hookah smoking is associated with a higher risk of obesity regardless of age or gender.

Whereas cigarettes are usually smoked alone by an individual, a hookah pipe is usually shared by several individuals, as they "pass around" the pipe at a hookah lounge or home event. Bacteria or viruses present in the mouths of fellow hookah smokers may be "shared," including microbes like the oral herpes virus. Other diseases and conditions that may result from hookah smoking are emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD , heart disease, osteoporosis, pregnancy complications, premature birth, and infertility.

Charcoal is used to heat a sweet, sticky tobacco, producing smoke that is filtered through cooled water. The smoke is inhaled through a flexible hose that is passed from one user to the next. Adolescent medicine specialist Ellen Rome, MD, MPH , offers three reasons why smoking a hookah is harmful and how to raise the discussion with your teen.

Young people may be attracted to the social nature of hookah smoking and to flavors that range from cappuccino to watermelon.

However, hookah smokers may share more than just tobacco. Besides the regular carcinogens from smoking, the flavorings are often oil-based, and oil is incredibly inflammatory and damaging to small airways in the lungs. Heating elements that have metal coils can also release heavy metal ions that also are inflammatory in lungs, causing damage that can result in substantial harm.

Aside from the risk of infection, smoke from the hookah contains the same cancer-causing chemicals as cigars and cigarettes. Hookah smokers also inhale carbon monoxide, heavy metals and other toxic compounds given off by the burning charcoal. Hookah Smoke and Cancer The charcoal used to heat the tobacco can raise health risks by producing high levels of carbon monoxide, metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.

This may put hookah users at additional risk. In a single water pipe session, users are exposed to up to 9 times the carbon monoxide and 1. It contains smoke from the tobacco as well as smoke from the heat source e. American Lung Association. Department of Health and Human Services. Atlanta: U. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes.

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