Fact: Smoking is a major factor leading to heart disease in both pre- and post-menopausal women.
Smoking is believed to be a factor in some 325,000 deaths of the one million Americans who die each year of heart attack, stroke and related disorders. Nicotine raises adrenalin which makes the heart beat faster, work harder and consume more oxygen; adrenalin mobilizes fat and encourages blood platelet clogging, a prime cause for heart attack. Smokers also have more hardening of the arteries than non-smokers and more narrowing of all the blood vessels.