Toenail Nicotine Levels Can Indicate Women's Heart Disease Risk
Researchers at UCSD have discovered a new indicator for the risk of heart disease in women: nicotine levels in toenails. KPBS reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
Researchers measured the nicotine levels in toenail clippings of more than 60,000 women over a 14-year period. Those who had higher toenail nicotine levels were at much greater risk of developing heart disease. That was found to be the case irrespective of the number of cigarettes smoked.
UCSD researcher Wael Al-Delaimy directed the study.
Al-Delaimy : This is providing us a new kind of measurement of a risk, so it’s an additional risk that we weren't detecting before, measuring the toenail nicotine.
Al-Delaimy says because toenails grow slowly, they provide a more stable estimate of exposure to cigarette smoke than other indicators.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
