New study: Smoking damages your body in minutes

The long term effects of smoking has been well known over the past few years as documented cases of heart disease and cancer has been well reviewed. But new research published in Chemical Research in Toxicology has identified potentially harmful effects immediately your first cigarette of the day.

Researchers looked at a specific level of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in 12 patients after they smoked. The results show that PAH immediately was processed in the body and it converted into another chemical to damage DNA, which is known to be the primary cause of cancer. This horrifying effect took only 15 to 30 minutes.