Cigarette Smoking and Blood Lipids

A NUMBER OF recent epidemiological studies have shown that a positive relationship exists between cigarette smoking and coronary heart disease1-3and between cigarette smoking and elevated serum lipids.4-7While these statistical associations may suggest a cause and effect relationship between smoking and coronary disease and smoking and lipid abnormalities, observations of an experimental nature are necessary to determine whether this actually exists. Since blood lipid variations have been generally accepted as an important factor in atherogenesis, an investigation of the effect of cigarette smoking and nicotine administration on lipid metabolism was undertaken to help clarify the relationship of smoking and coronary heart disease. In the present report several phases of this investigation will be discussed: (1) the effect of cigarette smoking and nicotine on free fatty acids (FFA),8,9(2) the importance of the adrenal glands and sympathetic nervous system in the FFA response to smoking,10(3)