Cigarettes Smoking Exposure Can Lead to Diabetes

A new study from Charles Drew University found that adults exposed to environmental tobacco smoke had a higher measure of insulin resistance than nonsmokers without the smoke exposure. With insulin resistance, the body produces insulin but does not use it properly. It can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes. "Passive cigarette smoking" Researchers measured "passive cigarette smoking" by how much cotinine they found in the blood of participants. Cotinine is a substance related to nicotine that measures a person's exposure to tobacco smoke.

Secondhand Smoke and Heart Function

The findings could have major public health implications because this type of damage has been associated with atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which can lead to heart attack or stroke. "Breathing in very low levels of secondhand smoke -- the same amount many people and children would encounter out and about in the community -- appears to impair one's vascular function after just 30 minutes of exposure," the study's lead investigator, Dr. Paul Frey, of the division of cardiology at San Francisco General Hospital, said in a news release from the American College of Cardiology.