Lowering HDL Cholesterol By Smoking

It has long been established that cigarette smoking adversely affects heart disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) points out that cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. It accounts for 440,000 of the annual 2.4 million deaths.

Many studies have shown that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack. Smoking increases the tendency for blood to clot which is a prime contributing factor for heart attacks.

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is considered the 'good' cholesterol because it serves a protective function. It sucks up cholesterol found in the bloodstream and returns it to the liver for disposal. LDL (low-density lipoprotein) carries cholesterol from the liver to the cells that need it.

High levels of HDL are desired so that any free cholesterol will be quickly removed from the blood.

Proper physical exercise is one way to increase the concentration of HDL cholesterol. Smoking works against HDL cholesterol because it decreases exercise tolerance thus making it harder to get the activity you need to help you reach a healthy HDL level. If you don't feel like exercising then this easy method of increasing your HDL level is not an option.

Smoking introduces many toxic substances like nicotine, tar, and free radicals into the bloodstream. Free radicals combine with LDL cholesterol particles causing them to more easily burrow into the artery-cell walls clogging the arteries and hastening the atherosclerotic process. The remaining toxic substances don't belong in the bloodstream and most likely have a bad effect on the arterial system.

Since HDL levels are depressed in smokers, cholesterol is free to build up in the arteries. Hence, atherosclerosis is the chief contributor to the high number of deaths from smoking in the United States.

So smoking starts a vicious cycle preventing a person from doing the kinds of activities that will help increase their HDL levels. In this sense, it's a downward spiral with the end result of developing coronary heart disease and possibly a heart attack.

The good news is if you stop smoking - no matter how long or how much you've smoked - your risk of heart disease and stroke starts to drop. It's cut in half after one year without smoking, then continues to decline until it's as low as a nonsmoker's risk.