Smoking trendy hookah pipes may increase your risk of a heart attack or strokes by causing deadly blood clots, scientists fear.
The tabletop pipes are considered to be ‘healthier’ because the smoke goes through water before inhalation.
But for the first time, research on mice has shown hookah smoke causes blood cells to become ‘hyperactive’.
Experiments led by the University of Texas found the blood of the rodents clotted at a rate five times faster than normal.
Experts did not study whether the clots caused heart attack or strokes – but they are a known cause of the killer cardiac events.
The findings suggest shisha is no less dangerous than smoking traditional cigarettes, a habit already known to threaten heart health.
Smoking trendy hookah waterpipes may increase your risk of heart attacks and strokes by causing deadly blood clots, scientists have warned. Music artist Drake is a fan of waterpipes
The findings suggestI shisha is no less dangerous than traditional cigarettes, which are known to threaten cardiovascular health. Model Bella Hadid, pictured using a shisha pipe, is one of many celebrities who hang out at hookah lounges
Shisha tobacco smoke – being enjoyed by singer Klie Minogue, pictured – caused the blood of mice to thicken 27 times quicker than normal in a study at The University of Texas at El Paso
Dr Fadi Khasawneh, study co-author, said: ‘Hookah smoking, which is becoming more popular in Western countries, is perceived as less harmful than cigarettes.
‘Yet hookahs carry a toxic profile that is thought to be comparable or to even exceed that of traditional cigarettes.
‘Our findings provide new evidence that hookah smoking is as unhealthy – if not more so – than traditional cigarettes.’
Hookah pipes have grown in popularity in recent years, with figures suggesting up to a fifth of young people in the US and Europe using them.
Famous footballers and celebrities – including Bella Hadid, Drake and Kylie Minogue – have also been spotted using them.
Hookah is an ancient form of smoking in which charcoal-heated tobacco or non-tobacco based shisha smoke is passed through water before inhalation.
Smoking cigarettes alone is already known to be a key risk factor for stroke because the killer habit thickens the blood.
Previous studies have suggested hookah smoking also threatens cardiovascular health.
But this is the first to demonstrate its effect on blood. It was published in the American Heart Association’s journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB)
Mice were exposed to hookah smoke from a smoking machine for an hour every day for one week in the lab.
The smoking machine used 12g of flavoured tobacco with nicotine and tar, typical to that seen in a usual waterpipe set-up.
Researchers carried out experiments on the last day of the study and examined the effects of hookah smoke on blood function.
They made a small incision on the tails of the mice and measured how quickly the blood responded to the injury.
This is known as haemostasis, when the blood clots to form a plug and stop the bleeding.
It took an average of 11 seconds for the smoke-exposed mice to stop bleeding, four minutes and 40 seconds quicker than mice who were healthy.
Next, the team examined if the smoke-exposed mice were more prone to thrombrosis – when a blood clot forms without bleeding.
While the mice were under anaesthesia, the scientists injured the carotid artery in the neck, which supplies blood to the brain.
This mimicked the first process of a heart attack, in which a piece of plaque breaks off a blood vessel wall.
The scientists measured how long it took for a blood clot to form inside the artery and halt blood flow.
A blockage in arteries caused by a blood clot can trigger a heart attack or stroke, depending on where it is.
It took one minute and 12 seconds in the smoke-exposed mice, compared with six minutes in the healthy mice.
The researchers blamed ‘hyperactivity’ in the platelets, triggered by the hookah smoke, for the abnormally fast blood processes.
Although mice are very small, the findings are applicable to humans, the researchers said.
They made sure that cotinine, a chemical found in tobacco which can be measured in the blood, was comparable to that found in humans who smoke hookah.
Dr Khasawneh said: ‘Some studies have found that the smoke emitted from one hookah tobacco smoking episode contains significantly more harmful chemicals compared to a single cigarette.
‘Smoking a hookah, cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other forms of tobacco all increase your risk for heart disease and stroke.’
It’s not the first time experts have warned of the dangers of shisha, which has been found equal to or worse than smoking a pack of cigarettes.
In May 2019, the American Heart Association (AHA) published a statement on hookah smoking based on current evidence.
It reinforced that hookah smoke still contains toxic chemicals such as carbon monoxide which cam harm blood vessels, the heart and lungs.
Dr Aruni Bhatnagar, a director of AHA Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science, said: ‘This study provides additional evidence that, contrary to popular belief, hookah smoking adversely affects cardiovascular health.
‘From 2011 to 2015, the number of United States-based waterpipe establishments is estimated to have more than doubled, and interest has grown among both teens and adults.
‘Although the tobacco industry has found novel ways to popularize and increase the use of new products, studies like this highlight the high risk of hookah smoking.’