Hookah Smoking Is No Safer Than Cigarettes

Hookah Smoking Is No Safer Than Cigarettes

Hookah smoking is popular among certain cultures, and it has gained popularity in the United States as an alternative to cigarettes, most likely due to the belief that it is safer. While both types of smoking are detrimental to oral health, a new study reveals that hookah use (smoking tobacco through a water pipe) may actually expose people to much higher levels of carbon monoxide and benzene than cigarettes.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) performed a crossover study on 13 volunteers. Because the human body varies in how it metabolizes and excretes toxic substances, researchers asked each volunteer to smoke, on different days, cigarettes (11 per day or more) or a water pipe (three times per day). Researchers then measured chemical levels present in blood and urine. They found that concentrations of benzene, which has been linked to increased risk of leukemia, doubled in the urine of subjects after hookah smoking compared to cigarette use. Moreover, breath-measured carbon monoxide levels over 24 hours were 2.5 times higher in hookah users compared to cigarette smokers. Nicotine levels among hookah users were lower, however.

The researchers concluded that hookah use neither reduces the risks associated with smoking compared to cigarettes, nor does it offer a harm-reduction approach to reducing tobacco use.