Second-hand smoking results in liver disease, s...(ng helps prevent not only cardiovascular...)

Second-hand smoke is the combination of smoke exhaled by a smoker and smoke given off by the burning end of a tobacco product. Lingering in the air long after tobacco products have been extinguished, it is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers in the vicinity.

Second-hand smoke is a major toxicant that affects children, the elderly and nonsmokers living in the household of adults who smoke. Many state and local governments have passed laws prohibiting smoking in public facilities. Diseases associated with second-hand smoking include cancer, heart disease, atherosclerosis, pneumonia, bronchitis and severe asthma.

Despite the large body of scientific evidence documenting the effects of passive or active smoking on the heart and lungs, reports investigating how smoking causes liver injury are scant.

"Until our study, second-hand smoking had not been linked to NAFLD development," Martins-Green said.

She was joined in the study by her graduate student Hongwei Yuan (first author of the research paper and now a postdoctoral researcher in her lab) and UC Riverside's John Shyy, a professor of biomedical sciences. Next, the team plans to investigate the clinical relevance of their findings. A grant to Martins-Green from Philip Morris USA, Inc., supported the research.

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