The Health Effects of Drinking While Smoking

Nicotine and Alcohol Combination Adds to Smoke Related Health Issues

Feb 16, 2009 Uni Blake

For non smokers exposure to second hand cigarette smoke while having an alcoholic drink may lead to heart and liver damage.

People commonly have a cigarette with their alcoholic drink. The combination of nicotine and ethanol has been shown to have its own share of negative effects.

As Nicotine Levels in the Blood Increase, Alcohol Levels Increase

Adult rats exposed to alcohol and varying levels of nicotine had a reduction in blood alcohol levels when compared to rats exposed to only alcohol. Researchers believe that this is because the nicotine somehow reduces the amount of alcohol absorbed into the blood from the gut (Parnell, SE, West, JR and Chen, W-JA (2006) “Nicotine decreases blood alcohol concentrations in adult rats: A phenomenon potentially related to gastric function”. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30:1408-1413).

The alcohol stays longer in the stomach where more of it is broken down and absorbed as the alcohol components. A smoker may be tempted to consume more alcohol thinking he is safe from the effects of blood alcohol. The researchers however point out that diminished blood alcohol content does not mean that the body escapes other alcohol related negative effects like hangovers and liver tissue damage.

Liver and Heart Damage Caused by the Combination of Drinking Alcohol and Smoking Cigarettes

When lab mice where exposed to second hand cigarette smoke and fed ethanol (a component of alcohol) their livers showed elevated fibrosis. Fibrosis can be a precursor to liver cirrhosis (Shannon M. Bailey et al., “Ethanol and tobacco smoke increase hepatic steatosis and hypoxia in the hypercholesterolemic apoE−/− mouse: Implications for a “multihit” hypothesis of fatty liver disease” Free Radical Biology and Medicine Available online 18 January 2009 Abstract).

Another study showed mice exposed to the same combination of smoky air and ethanol had an almost 5 fold increase in artery lesions when compared to the control. The lesions are an indicator of heart disease (Yavuz Cakir, Zhen Yang, Cynthia A. Knight, Melissa Pompilius, David Westbrook, Shannon M. Bailey, Kent E. Pinkerton and Scott W. Ballinger “Effect of alcohol and tobacco smoke on mtDNA damage and atherogenesis” Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 43, Issue 9, 1 November 2007, Pages 1279-1288 Abstract).

Another Reason to Change Public Health Policy

These studies show us that the combination of alcohol and cigarette smoke has a detrimental effect on people’s health. This conditioned associative behavior of smoking and drinking puts passive smokers at risk. The research shows that those exposed to second hand smoke are subject to the same negative health effects as an active smoker. This is worsened when non smoker drinks while being exposed to cigarette smoke. People may not only need to rethink their decision to drink in smoke filled atmospheres but move towards creating policies that ensure alcohol is served in only non-smoking areas.

The copyright of the article The Health Effects of Drinking While Smoking in Biotech/Pharmaceuticals is owned by Uni Blake. Permission to republish The Health Effects of Drinking While Smoking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Effects of Cigarette & Alcohol Combination

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