Hookah smoking more popular than cigarettes among students

After decades of public health campaigns to convince people to stop smoking, a new threat is on the horizon. Teens and young adults, many of whom would never pick up a cigarette, are smoking tobacco from a waterpipe, or hookah.

A study published Thursday in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine is shining a light on this disturbing new trend. The study, the first random sample of U.S. college students to address waterpipe smoking, found that more than 40% of the students said they had hookah smoked and almost 10% had done so in the last 30 days.  Slightly fewer students said they had smoked cigarettes.

"We were surprised that the percentage of students who reported ever engaging in waterpipe smoking was actually higher than the percentage of those who have ever smoked cigarettes," said Dr. Brian Primack, an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the study. "Waterpipe smoking may become even more popular in the near future since many of the new smoke-free ordinances being passed by local governments exempt waterpipe cafes. Waterpipe smoking is going to be a crucial public-health issue that will require increased surveillance and study."

In a story published last November, Los Angeles Times reporter Janet Cromley found many people believe it is less harmful than smoking cigarettes. Few studies compare the dangers of cigarette smoking to hookah smoking, but health authorities say hookah smoking is not safe. "Any of the major diseases that are associated with cigarette smoking are associated with hookah pipe smoking," Paul Knepprath, vice president of government relations for the American Lung Assn. of California, told Cromley.

A fact sheet on hookah smoking is available from the Kentucky Health Department.

-- Shari Roan

Photo: Chris Young / AFP / Getty Images

Why the first cigarette hooks some

Many people try smoking. But why do some quickly abandon the practice while others are soon smoking more and more?

Research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience sheds some light on the question. By examining specific pathways and cell receptors in the brain, scientists have learned that nicotine reacts differently in the brains of different people. For some, areas of the brain related to pleasure, addiction and reward are activated.

"During the early phase of tobacco exposure, many individuals find nicotine highly unpleasant and aversive, whereas others may become rapidly dependent on nicotine and find it rewarding," says the lead investigator of the study, Steven Laviolette of the department of anatomy and cell biology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario.

A pathway called the mesolimbic dopamine system is involved in the addictive properties of nicotine and other drugs. The scientists found they were able to manipulate the receptors in this system to control whether nicotine is processed as rewarding or aversive. The research could explain why some people are vulnerable to addiction and lead to treatments that prevent or treat addiction.

-- Shari Roan

Photo: AP/Angela Rowlings

If you MUST smoke, eat veggies and drink tea

OK, you know we're not telling you that smoking is all right. It isn't. Any time a doctor or medical researcher - or your child or your spouse, for that matter - even hears a whisper alluding to "safe smoking techniques," they go berserk. "There is no safe smoking," they shout in unison. "Just quit. Quit. Quit."

Even the lead researcher on a new study in the journal Cancer, Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, who found that some fruits and vegetables, as well as green and black tea, seem to offer some protection against lung cancer to smokers, is quick to add the usual caveat. "Quitting smoking is the best course of action," he says in a press release.

But in a study of 558 people with lung cancer and 837 people who did not have lung cancer, researchers found that plant components called flavonoids seemed to protect smokers from lung cancer. It was a look-back study, analyzing the subjects' dietary history. The components that appeared to offer the most protection included catechin, found in strawberries and green and black tea; kaempferol, found in apples and Brussels sprouts; and quercetin, found in beans, onions and apples.

So should smokers load the grocery cart with apples, strawberries and teas? It would be better if they quit smoking, according to Zhang. Yeah, yeah, we know. "However," he says, "it's not a bad idea for everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more tea."

The next step is to study the effect of flavonoids on cell lines and animals in the lab to figure out how they protect against lung cancer. The components, he says, block the formation of blood vessels that feed tumors and stop cancer cells from growing. Next, he wants to study which plant foods protect best, and the daily amounts that offer the best protection.

Having said all that, it's time to say it again. Smoking is bad. Just quit.

-Susan Brink