Both coffee and smoking are approximately equally harmful to the heart. And with their simultaneous action, damage to the heart is not even two, but several times stronger than with the action of one of them.

According to studies conducted by doctors from the Athens Institute of Medicine (Greece), the appearance of caffeine in the blood leads to a decrease in the elasticity of the aorta, increased blood viscosity and narrowing of small blood vessels, which together leads to an increase in the burden on the heart (he has to overcome greater resistance of the cardiovascular system, Cardiovascular system).

As for nicotine, it also causes the narrowing of the blood vessels, increasing their resistance to the blood flow. And with simultaneous action, especially prolonged (and scientists have observed the state of the participants of the study for almost six months), the effect of these two substances is not just folding up, but increasing several times - speaking in the medical language, they become synergists and potentiate the action of each other.

"We still have not figured out the mechanism of synergism between caffeine and nicotine," said Dr. Karalambos Vlachopulos, the head of the study, in an interview with "BBC". - But the conclusions that can be drawn from our results are obvious. Probably, every smoker knows that his bad habit harms his health, and a coffee lover understands that his favorite stimulant is also far from harmless. But, it turns out, the total effect of these factors is not just double - it becomes really dangerous to health.

Medicus. En.