Consumption of tobacco is injurious to health especially when you get addicted to it. Exposure to tobacco smoke has been linked with an increase in the presence of non-essential heavy metals such as lead in the saliva of children. This could lead to health and behavioural problems. Cotinine is an alkaloid present in tobacco and is the predominant metabolite of nicotine. This alkaloid is found in the blood of children or saliva and is measured to assess the children’s exposure to tobacco smoke or their environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
It is found that children with higher levels of cotinine have higher levels of heavy metals in their saliva. 238 out of 1,300 children born in the year 2003 and 2004 and grew up in the rural areas of Pennsylvania and North Carolina in the US were recruited for childhood developmental studies.
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The study found associations between salivary cotinine and salivary levels of metals such as copper, zinc, and lead. Metals such as copper and zinc are necessary for bone development and for the metabolism of our body.
The findings suggest that environmental tobacco smoke exposure is one of the major sources of increased children’s exposure to heavy metals. Exposure to heavy metals can increase the frequency and severity of asthma, respiratory infections, and cancer. Tobacco smoke contains numerous chemical compounds, most of them being harmful to humans.
However, metals have been found in vapours of common products used for vaping and is also a healthier alternative to tobacco-based products.
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The researchers found that a simple saliva test could serve as a non-invasive tool for assessing environmental exposures to trace metals