Low-tar cigarettes 'bad for heart'
Updated on 15 May 2007
Low-tar or "light" cigarettes impair blood flow through the heart just as much as normal cigarettes, experts have warned.
Many smokers switch to cigarettes that have low tar and low nicotine, believing they can reduce the risks, they said.
But, writing in the journal Heart, experts said they had studied comprehensively for the first time the cardiovascular effects of light cigarettes.
They found that blood pressure and heart rate both increased after lighting up, irrespective of the type of cigarette smoked.
Blood flow through the arteries was also impaired in smokers of both light and normal cigarettes, they said.
Sixty-two people in their mid-20s were studied, of whom 20 had smoked low tar, low nicotine cigarettes (8mg tar, 0.6mg nicotine and 9mg carbon monoxide) for at least three years.
Another 20 had smoked normal cigarettes for the same period (12mg tar, 0.9mg nicotine and 12 mg carbon monoxide), while the rest were non-smokers.
All had no evidence of coronary artery disease and were tested for cardiovascular fitness. Smokers were tested two days before and 30 minutes after smoking two of their usual cigarettes within the space of 15 minutes.
The results of their coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) were analysed. This is a measure of how easily coronary arteries can dilate in order to accommodate an increased blood flow.
The researchers, from Baskent University in Turkey, found that, in the smokers, CFVR was already lower than among non-smokers but fell even further after smoking, irrespective of the type of cigarette smoked.
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