Hookah smoking especially harmful?

Federal Institute for Risk Assessment warns against risks of hookah smoking

05/08/2011

The smoking of hookahs - so-called shisha - is growing in popularity among young people. The allegedly more harmless variant of tobacco consumption is preferred by many adolescents to cigarette smoking, but sometimes has even more far-reaching health risks than filterless cigarettes, so the current warning from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).

Overall threatened according to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment by hookah smoking similar health impairments as in normal cigarettes. Also the addictive potential is comparable with the hookahs and other types of tobacco consumption. However, since the special hookah tobacco contains a significantly higher proportion of humectants that release harmful pollutants during shisha smoking, the hookah smoke is sometimes even more toxic than that of unfiltered cigarettes, reports the BfR. The growing popularity of shisha smoking among young people is therefore highly critical of the experts at the Federal Institute.

Hookah smoke contains many dangerous pollutants
„Tobacco smoke remains a poison mixture - even if it comes from a hookah“, warns the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. The health risks of shisha smoking are sometimes even higher than with conventional tobacco consumption. In the hookah, the tobacco is not burned, but is siphoned off at a low temperature, explained the BfR experts. The contained water of the pipe, however, by no means serve to filter the smoke, but only cool it off. The toxic and carcinogenic substances produced during the smoldering, such as „Acrolein, arsenic, Bez (a) pyrene and formaldehyde or the likewise poisonous heavy metals chromium, nickel, cobalt and lead“, get inhaled unfiltered into the lungs, warns the BfR. Also, the tar usually contained in tobacco smoke in this way get into the respiratory tract. There, the tar adheres to the alveoli and contributes significantly to the emergence of smoker's cough typical of many years of tobacco consumption. According to the BfR, the risk of nicotine addiction is also present in shisha smoking, since smoking is usually done over a longer period of time and the body even absorbs significantly more nicotine than with normal cigarette smoking.

Shisha smoking more dangerous than cigarettes
Although the ingredients in the smoke of cigarettes and water pipes are largely the same, but their amounts vary significantly, reports the BfR. Thus, the hookah tobacco contain a particularly high proportion of dangerous humectants, such as glycerol. The BfR was able to prove in an experimental study that these humectants during shisha smoking largely evaporate and can be inhaled with the smoke. In this way, potentially far more extensive health problems than the tobacco consumption brings with it, warns the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. For example, the inhalation of high glycerol or 1,2-propanediol concentrations „to changes in the cell epithelium in the larynx or irritation of the nasal mucosa“, said Andreas Hensel, President of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. Although in Germany the humectant content in hookah tobacco is limited by the Tobacco Ordinance to five percent, but if the limit value can be quite a significantly higher levels of pollution in the hookah smoke be included, as in normal cigarette smoke. In general, the higher the humidity, the greater the smoke.

Numerous health risks from hookah smoking
The BfR's experimental study on the risks of shisha smoking has also revealed that shisha smoke contains a large number of other pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA). According to the BfR, the proven loads of waterpipe smoke can be expected to result in similar health risks to regular hookah smoking as with cigarette smoking. Typical consequences include an increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction, vascular disease, an increased risk of lung cancer, and potential harm to the child's smoking during pregnancy, the BfR warns. In addition, according to statements of the BfR experts „especially with hookah smoking the risk of transmission of cold sores (herpes), jaundice (hepatitis) and the lung disease tuberculosis, if the mouthpiece is not changed before every move of another person.“ (Fp)

Image: Daniel Knußmann