Healthline: Just How Bad Cigarettes, E-Cigarettes, and Water Pipes Are for Your Health

By Tony Hicks

Smoking and vaping are bad for people’s health.

That’s the blunt assessment from a new study led by Dr. Thomas Munzel, chief of cardiology at the University Medical Center at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.

The study says smoking and vaping both stiffen arteries, cause inflammation, and damage DNA.

In addition, researchers say smoking and vaping increase the risk of serious COVID-19 complications.

Scientists say this is the first major study comparing the three forms of smoking and vaping: tobacco, e-cigarettes, and water pipes.

The scientists found multiple studies showing tobacco cigarettes are more harmful than e-cigarettes, but few large studies tackled the effects of water pipes, also referred to as hookahs, shishas, and narghiles.

Although more investigation is needed, the study concluded “water pipe smoking is not less harmful than tobacco smoking and thus cannot be considered a healthy alternative.”

“Inhaling water vapor has its risks as well, as you are still inhaling chemicals heated to higher temperatures,” Dr. Alvin Singh, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, told Healthline.

“I think it’s kind of like asking, ‘Would you rather be robbed at gunpoint, by someone with a knife, or by someone with a baseball bat?’ You may end up with a less severe form of injury, but in the end, you’re still going to be robbed,” he said.

Read the full story via Healthline

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