Passive Smoking Linked to Obesity, Diabetes
A study co-authored by Theodore C. Friedman, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles, found that passive smoking increases risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Based on the results of the study, adults who are not smokers but are exposed to second hand smoke were more at risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes, when compared against non-smokers who have no environmental exposure to secondhand smoke.
The study involved the use of serum cotinine levels in order to verify passive smoking. This is something that has not been done by other studies that also suggested a link between Type 2 diabetes and passive smoking, according to Dr. Friedman. Serum cotinine measures a person’s exposure to tobacco smoke.
Dr. Friedman and his colleagues examined data from more than 6,300 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 to 2006. Current smokers were defined by the researchers as those who admit to smoking cigarettes and had a measured serum cotinine level greater than 3 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). Non-smokers, on the other hand, were defined as those who do not admit to smoking cigarettes and whose serum cotinine levels were below 0.05 ng/mL.
Those who do not admit to smoking but whose serum cotinine levels were above 0.05 ng/mL were called passive smokers.
The study showed that passive smokers had a higher measure of insulin resistance, higher levels of fasting blood glucose or blood sugar, higher rate of Type 2 diabetes, and a higher body mass index (BMI).
Tags: dangers of secondhand smoke, passive smoking, secondhand smoke
