5/18/2007 - Light cigarettes as hard on the heart as regular cigarettes Smoking light cigarettes is just as bad for your heart as smoking regular cigarettes, according to a new study in the journal "Heart". Researchers found that low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes impair blood flow through the heart just as much as regular cigarettes. Test results also showed that blood pressure and heart rate increased after smoking light cigarettes, just as they do after smoking regular cigarettes. The study included 62 people in their mid-20s with no signs of coronary artery disease. Twenty of the participants had smoked low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes (8mg tar, 0.6mg nicotine and 9mg carbon monoxide) for at least three years. Twenty others had smoked regular cigarettes (12mg tar, 0.9mg nicotine and 12mg carbon monoxide) for the same period of time. The other 22 participants did not smoke. The two groups of smokers were similar in terms of general health and the number of cigarettes they regularly smoked. All of the participants were tested for cardiovascular fitness, with a focus on coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR), a measure of how readily coronary arteries can widen in response to increased blood flow. The smokers were tested before and 30 minutes after smoking two of their usual cigarettes within the space of 15 minutes. CFVR was lower in both groups of smokers than it was in the non-smokers, and declined further, and to a similar degree, in both groups after smoking. CFVR fell from 2.68 to 2.05 in the people who smoked light cigarettes and from 2.65 to 2.18 in the people who smoked regular cigarettes. In the non-smokers, average CFVR was 3.11. The study authors noted that many smokers switch to light cigarettes because they mistakenly believe that this will reduce some of the harmful effects of smoking. Cigarette smoking is responsible for one-fifth of all deaths from cardiovascular disease and triples the risk of heart failure later in life. Back