Hookah: Disguised health risk?

As college students are turning to hookah smoking on campuses nationwide, many health care professionals are warning people of the health risks of hookah use. There is a false perception among many students that hookah smoke is less dangerous than cigarette smoke. In fact, college students say they believe hookahs are safer and more enjoyable than smoking cigarettes, and describe it as a “relaxing, social activity.” Smoking fruit-flavor tobacco at “hookah lounges” is becoming popular, with one hookah lounge in Iowa offering 18 flavors of tobacco including apple, rose, melon, strawberry, grape orange apricot and cherry. Hookah lounges have become popular hang outs for students aged 18-21 who are under the legal drinking age and cannot get in to bars.

While hookah has gained a reputation among users as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking, may doctors argue the opposite. According to Richard D. Hurt, M.D., Mayo Clinic internist and director of the Nicotine Dependence Center, Hookah smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking. A hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through the rubber hose to a mouthpiece. The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke. Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.

A hookah smoker can inhale 8 times more carbon monoxide and 36 times more tar in a typical session than someone who smokes 1 cigarette. A person typically inhales about 10 times more smoke from a puff on a hookah pipe than from a puff on a cigarette.

Many health organizations and medical professionals have started to increase their research on the effects of hookah smoking. While research about hookah smoking is still emerging, evidence shows that it poses many dangers.

• Hookah smoke contains levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens).

• As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease, and other serious illnesses.

• Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoke does, possibly leading to tobacco dependence.

• Hookah smoke poses dangers associated with secondhand smoke.

• Hookah smoking by pregnant women can result in low birth weight babies.

• Hookah pipes used in hookah bars and cafes in Iowa are not regulated by public health and may not be cleaned properly, risking the spread if infectious diseases.

For more information on health consequences of hookah and other tobacco products, including the new dissolvable tobacco products contact Linn County Public Health, Healthy Behaviors Branch (319) 892-6910.

Need help quitting?

Call 1-800-Quit-Now (1-800-784-8669)

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Other Resources

American Cancer Society

www.cancer.org

1-800-227-2345

American Lung Association

www.lungusa.org

1-800-586-4872