Smoking and Postabsorptive Serum Lipid Levels

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Abstract
Reports concerning the blood lipid levels of smokers and nonsmokers are conflicting; some population studies reveal that heavy cigarette smokers have slightly elevated serum cholesterol values in comparison to nonsmokers,1,2 while other investigators have found no relationship between blood lipid levels and smoking.3,4 Among numerous variables in such epidemiological studies, the work of Thomas and Cohen5 and Krut et al6 suggest that the diet of smokers may differ from that of nonsmokers and this may lead to differences in serum lipid levels. Results of previous short-term experiments have indicated that cigarette smoking has little if any effect on the serum cholesterol level.7-9 We have extended the experiment to four hours of heavy smoking and studied the effects of it on fasting blood lipid levels of habitual smokers and nonsmokers, using the same subjects for the experiment as for control. Methods The subjects were male and