What is it about?
Hookah smoking rate has been increasing over the years. Unfortunately hookah is marketed as a safer alternative to cigarettes. Here, we analyzed the hookah smoke and compared it to cigarette smoke to see if this was true. Our analysis showed that although hookah smoke doesn't have much nicotine, it has a lot of toxic chemicals that are not present in cigarette smoke. Thus, hookah smoke is harmful to human health because of its high content of phenol derivatives and polycyclic aromatic compounds.
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Why is it important?
Youth smoke more hookah than cigarettes nowadays because of the misconception that it's safer. Here, we show that it is not true. We need to raise awareness on the health risks of hookah tobacco smoking.
Perspectives
I enjoyed working on this project because I think that it is our job as scientists to inform the public about the health risks or benefits about what we experience daily. I see hookah bars are widely spreading and it made me feel sad to see young people smoking hookah without knowing its health risks. Recently, I presented this work at a conference, a lady approached me and thanked me because she didn't know about the health risk of hookah smoking. Then, she told me that she is from Bulgaria and her nephew smokes hookah regularly thinking it is safe. She said that she will tell him about this work and that she hopes he stops smoking after knowing this. I was glad that at least one person found meaning in this work and benefited from.
Moamen Elmassry
Texas Tech University System
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The characterization of flavored hookahs aroma profile and in response to heating as analyzed via headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and chemometrics, Scientific Reports, November 2018, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-35368-6.
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