Light Smoking and Heart Disease and Better Questions To Ask Your Kids-Even One Cigarette a Day: The Shocking Truth About Light Smoking and Heart Disease

When it comes to cigarettes, there's no safe number to smoke. Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH, Preventive Cardiologist, Director of Clinical Research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital, discusses his research that found that even two to five cigarettes daily increase a person’s cardiovascular disease risk by over fifty percent. He emphasizes that complete cessation is the only path to meaningful cardiovascular health improvement, and even then, it takes 30 to 40 years after quitting to return to a never-smoker's health level.