Even tobacco-free hookahs can endanger your health

Harmful substances in tobacco-free hookahs
That smoking is unhealthy, should probably be known to everyone. According to some experts, hookah smoking is especially harmful. Even if it does not use tobacco, it threatens a health hazard.

smoking is dangerous for your health
According to research, although there are fewer and fewer smokers in Germany, one reason for the all-clear is not. Among other things, smoking favors twelve types of cancer such as lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and colon cancer, cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke, arterial diseases such as atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis) or the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD (smoker's lung). Health experts now point out that smoking is also a health hazard when tobacco is not involved.

Even with the consumption of tobacco and niktionfreier hookahs health can be endangered. This is shown by evaluations and investigations by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. (Image: Roman Ribaliov / fotolia.com)

Variety of potentially harmful substances
According to a report from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), smoke from tobacco-free hookahs also contains a large number of substances that are potentially harmful to health.

The institute comes to this conclusion after an evaluation of various scientific investigations as well as own experimental measurements. The tobacco-free products for waterpipes include, for example, steam stones, herbal mixtures and gels.

Risk assessment for e-shishas remains difficult
"The consumption of tobacco and nicotine-free hookah pipes that are operated with coal or through another combustion process also creates toxicologically questionable substances. Likewise, in the case of electric heating of hookahs, harmful emissions are to be expected, "writes the BfR.

Therefore, the smoking of tobacco-free waterpipe products can cause health risks, according to the Institute. According to the BfR, a risk assessment for e-shishas is difficult due to insufficient data.

Release of carcinogenic substances
The evaluation of the current study situation shows that health risks can be caused mainly by the release of carcinogenic and other harmful substances during the combustion process - and thus arise regardless of whether it is tobacco-containing or tobacco-free products.

"Apart from nicotine and the tobacco-specific nitrosamines, tobacco and nicotine-free products are likely to have similar pollutant profiles to tobacco mixtures (including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or benzene)," the statement said.

Accordingly, in the case of tobacco and nicotine-free products, the substances are mainly produced by coal combustion and partly by pyrolysis of other materials (eg plant constituents in herb mixtures or mushrooms). (Ad)