Search WellMD

 

WellMD.com

Study: Cigar Smoke Effects Blood Vessels 

At the 48^th Annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in March 2000, researchers reported that the blood vessels of people who smoke cigars do not dilate as well as in non cigar smokers.

Dr. Minerva Santo-Tomas and colleagues from the Mt Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, measured the dilation of blood vessels in the forearms of 24 nonsmokers, after the blood flow was obstructed for a short time, and compared the result after half of the study group smoked a cigar.

After smoking a cigar the arteries would only dilate 2% after obstruction in blood flow compared to a full 10% increase in dilation in the nonsmoker control group.

The researchers noted that the impairment in dilation was immediate after smoking a cigar, and that this effect was due to an effect of the cigar smoke on the endothelium, the layer of cells that line the arteries.

Dilation of blood vessels is necessary to increase the blood flow, for instance to the heart after exercise.  An impairment of the dilation of arteries could increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

Copyright WellMD 2000