Friday, February 5, 2010

Smokers should quit.

According to Nationwide Children's Hospital and Research Institutes, in Columbus, Ohio, Secondhand smoke is especially dangerous for young children and may even put them at risk for future heart disease.

"Young children breathe faster, so they end up taking in more smoke," explains study author Judith Groner, M.D.

Studies further reveal that children ages 2 to 5 absorbed six times more nicotine than older kids who were exposed to the same amount of smoke at home - and 40 percent of the toddlers and preschoolers had nicotine levels in their body equivalent to those of an active adult smoker. They also showed blood-vessel damage and had fewer vessel-repairing cells, both of which can lead to clogged arteries and atherosclerosis later in life.

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