Zestz Secondhand Smoke?

Secondhand Smoke Worst for Children

A study of 52 children ages 2 to 5 and 107 older children ages 9 to 18 found toddlers and obese children suffer far greater blood-vessel damage and other harm from secondhand smoke than other children, which could put them on the path to heart disease later in life.

The study, presented by John Anthony Bauer et al (1) at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in November 2009 found a link between the amount of secondhand smoke exposure and a marker (2) of vascular injury in toddlers.

It is known that secondhand smoke as well as smoking causes increased oxidation and inflammation and that obesity is a physiological condition of chronic low-grade inflammation which can lead to vascular damage. Bauer and colleagues proposed that the two factors together (eg. smoke exposures plus obesity) may interact to amplify the degree of inflammation or vascular cell damage that occurs in obese children.

Toddlers tend to be in closer proximity to their smoking parents for extended periods of time. This may explain why toddlers had a four times greater risk of secondhand smoke exposure when compared with adolescents, despite having similar reported home exposures.


1. John Anthony Bauer; Judith Groner; Hong Huang; Bing Han; and Bethany Hashiguchi. Toddlers and obese children suffer greater from secondhand smoke exposure. American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009. Abstract 1650/Poster 2056.
2. Circulating vascular endothelial progenitor cells, a cell type involved in repair and maintaining a healthy blood vessel network.