Smoking Cessation Health Center

Smoking's Damage Swift, Irreversible

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“We know if you have any smoking in your personal history, that puts you at risk for a number of diseases, even if you are a former smoker,” Wongtrakool says.

Daskaloupoulou is working on another study now examining whether former smokers who recently stopped can recover some lung function, and if so, how long it takes.

“This study is very exciting,” Daskalopoulou tells WebMD. “The earlier you stop, my belief is, the faster some recovery will be, but I don’t believe the [arterial] system ever goes back to normal. If you stop early, the damage will be much smaller, but there will still be damage.”

She also says that young people who believe that a little smoking doesn’t hurt are wrong.

Beth Abramson, MD, spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and director of the Cardiac Prevention Center at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, tells WebMD the study is stunning in that it shows clearly that “harmful effects of smoking show up immediately. This is more evidence to prove that smoking is horrendous to one’s health.”

Any smoking is bad, she says, because “it does the opposite of what nitroglycerin does, which is helps increase blood flow to the heart.”

She says even people who’ve smoked for decades can benefit from quitting, though “it’s going to take longer to take your risk down.”