Smoking and small, dense low-density lipoprotein particles: Cross-sectional study

Abstract

All forms of tobacco cause cardiovascular disease, and tobacco-related disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Smoking oxidizes low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, and oxidized LDL particles are thought to play an early and critical role in atherosclerogenesis. Hyper-low-density lipoproteinemia is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but small, dense LDL particles have been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Small, dense LDL correlates with some cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, hypo-high-density lipoproteinemia, and hypertension. Although smoking is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the relationship between smoking and small, dense LDL particles has not been described previously. Our cross-sectional study examined this relationship in a population of 18 healthy young adult men (9 smokers and 9 never-smokers, aged 21-24 years) from the same college. Concentrations of blood lipids and the LDL migration index (LDL-MI) were examined. Although concentrations of blood lipids did not differ between smokers and never-smokers, the LDL-MI had a strong tendency to be lower in smokers. The LDL-MI is larger in the presence of a greater proportion of small, dense LDL particles. These results indicate that tobacco smoking is associated with a decrease in the proportion of small, dense LDL particles. Regardless of these surprising results, we do not recommend smoking, given that it is a major cause of cardiovascular disease.

Effects of Encapsulated Fruit and Vegetable Juice Powder Concentrates on Oxidative Status in Heavy Smokers

“…Again, consistent with other studies [28][29][30][31], our baseline findings confirmed an increase in ox-LDL concentration in most of the study population, which indicated that the oxidation of LDL is significantly correlated with the dyslipidemia that characterizes these heavy smokers.…”

Smoking habits and coenzyme Q10 status in healthy European adults

“…In the present study, the concentration of blood lipids did not differ significantly between smokers and non-smokers, as confirmed by others [ 24 ]. Interestingly, there are findings on the influence of tobacco smoking on LDL subfraction profile which indicate that smoking is associated with a decrease in the proportion of small, dense LDL particles [ 24 , 25 ]. The densest LDL subfraction was found to contain the lowest CoQ10 levels associated with increased susceptibility to oxidation when compared to the lighter counterparts [ 26 ].…”

Effects of smoking and smoking cessation on lipids and lipoproteins: Outcomes from a randomized clinical trial

“…11,12 No studies, to date, have prospectively evaluated the effects of continued smoking and smoking cessation on lipoproteins in a large, contemporary cohort of current smokers. This is a matter of considerable importance, because smokers in the 21 st century are significantly more overweight than those studied previously.…”