Smoking hookah is growing in popularity to the younger generations in society today. Just the other night I was at my friends apartment where a group of people were smoking hookah, the owner of the hookah explained that it is a flavored Tabaco smoke that comes out of a pipe. People tend to believe that hookah smoke is safer for humans than cigarette smoke but I was incredibly shocked when I discovered the facts of hookah smoke.
Despite the sweet taste of hookah, it still contains many harmful toxins that are also found in cigarette smoke. Surprisingly you are actually consuming the same amount of toxins when smoking hookah vs. cigarettes. Most people would quickly disagree when hearing that you consume the equivalent nicotine of so many cigarettes during one hookah session. After conducting a study, Dr.Ruben Blachman-Braun concluded that the nicotine levels in daily hookah smokers were similar to the nicotine levels in people smoking 10 cigarettes a day. I think in order for this study to be the best it should be randomized and controlled.
The study that was conducted by Dr.Ruben had very little public information so I looked to another study to gather more information. UC san Francisco conducted a randomized study of 13 volunteers. The 13 volunteers smoked 11 cigarettes per day or 3 water-pipe session per day. The results concluded that the nicotine present in the blood was about when smoking from a water-pipe vs. a cigarette. Even though the nicotine levels were lower in hookah smoking, nicotine is still present which makes hookah addicting. The two studies I looked at concluded different results, so if I were to conduct a study to conclude better and more accurate results I would automatically make the sample size much larger.
During the same randomized study that was conducted at UCSF it was concluded that hookah smoke had more chemicals present then cigarette smoke. The urine samples of those who smoked hookah contained double the amount of benzene by product (which causes cancer; Leukemia) then the amount present in cigarette smokers. Along with urine samples the carbon monoxide levels of hookah smokers were found to be 2.5 levels higher than cigarette smokers. When ingesting carbon monoxide it doesn’t allow as much oxygen to be carried to the brain and therefore it would cause serve poisoning or even death.
Not only have multiple studies shown that you consume more toxins during hookah smoking ,but also these toxins lead to harmful long-term negative risks. Through extensive observational studies, researchers have found that people need to aware that hookah has the same health risks as other tobacco products. Some absolute health risks include: heart disease, clogged arteries, oral,lung,bladder cancers. These health risks are all hard endpoints, meaning that they are life threatening and not to be taken lightly.
An experimental study was conducted in London to discover the cardiovascular effects of smoking hookah. Six shisha(another name for hookah) cafes were randomly picked to participate in the study. At each café participants would smoke the same brand of tobacco for 45-90 minutes. Participants had their blood pressure, heart rate and carbon monoxide levels measured before and after their hookah sessions. The results concluded that blood pressure increases from 96mmHg to 108 mmHg, heart rate increased from 77 to 91 bpm, and carbon monoxide increased from 3 to 35 ppm. Each test had a p-value that was less than .001 and therefore we can conclude that there is relationship between smoking hookah and cardiovascular problems.
Some studies also suggest that hookah has short-term health consequences. These health-risks include: herpes, hepatitis c, and bronchitis due to shared mouthpieces. These diseases are all soft end points but they are still very frustrating to deal with and many people would like to avoid having them. Smoking hookah can affect you in many negative ways both immediately and later in life.
Not only are people hurting themselves while smoking hookah, they are also providing this toxic smoke to everyone else in the room. A study was conducted to investigate second hand smoke with hookah. The researchers, who are unknown, took urine samples from 2 groups, one group of hookah smoker and one group of people who were around hookah smokers. After the hookah was smoker and the non-hookah smokers ingested the air, urine samples were taken again. The urine samples of the non-hookah smokers showed that their levels of SPMA (comes from the body breaking down benzene) was 2.6 levels higher then before the hookah was smoked in the room. This a relative risk so it will not have the same affect on everyone. This study shows that not only were the hookah smokers affecting themselves but everyone else in the room. Ingesting benzene can lead to leukemia. I trust this study. If I was to improve this study I would increase the sample size and make sure all of the factors were held the same for smokers and non-smokers that way we could eliminate third variables.
The research and studies done with hookah prove that hookah smoke is just as bad, if not worse for your body than cigarette smoke. The popularity of hookah is still growing and not everyone is aware of the severe consequences that coincide with smoking this sweet tasting smoke. I believe the cost benefit analysis would show that we should give up hookah to save our health.