When we talk about the many dangers of cigarettes, we tend to think of a grizzled, three-pack-a-day smoker who’s been puffing for a few decades. Time to throw out those old stereotypes.
The bad news: A new analysis of data from the famous Nurse’s Health Study (which tracked 101,000 American nurses for more than 30 years), has found those who smoke from one to 14 cigarettes per day had double the risk of having a heart attack compared to those who didn’t smoke at all. The really bad news: The new analysis, conducted by University of Alberta (Canada) cardiac electrophysiologist Roopinder K. Sandhu, M.D., shows that most of these heart attack victims had no history of heart problems. Sandhu’s findings were published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology.
Okay, now for the good news: The data show that 15-20 years after giving up cigarettes completely, cardiac risks were as low as if they had never smoked at all. “This is a real wake up call,” says Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and health (https://www.acsh.org/). “Even light to moderate smoking has the potential to be as deadly as heavy smoking. Light smokers most definitely need to be made aware of these risks and should be advised to quit as soon as possible.”
Got it?
