Second Hand Smoke Can Cause Hardening of the Arteries

Many studies have reported that smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease, strokes and hardening of the arteries. Smoking causes great damage to the arteries and veins in the body and greatly speeds up the hardening and filling up of arteries known as atherosclerosis.  Atherosclerosis greatly increases risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Quitting smoking is useful at any age. Several published studies have reported that quitting smoking can greatly reduce risk of heart disease, strokes and many forms of cancer, even among people in their 60’s and 70’s who have been smoking more than 40 years!  (For more information, please see Taylor et al. June 2002, American Journal of Public Health.)

Second hand smoke (smoke from smokers breathed in by non-smokers) can also damage the arteries and significantly increase risk of heart disease, lung cancer and hardening of the arteries.  Even children’s arteries can be damaged by exposure to second hand smoke.  A Finnish study of 11 year old children reported significantly greater hardening of the arteries in 39 kids heavily exposed to second hand smoke as compared to 220 kids unexposed to second hand smoke.  This research by Kallio et al. is published in the February 2009 Pediatrics.