Teenagers who drink and smoke at risk of heart problems

TEENAGERS who drink and smoke moderate amounts can suffer stiffening of the arteries by the age of 17, a study has found.

Adolescents are increasing their risk of heart disease and strokes in later life by consuming amounts traditionally associated with youthful experimentation, scientists warned.

Researchers called on the Government to introduce school programmes to warn teenagers that drinking the equivalent of two or three pints in a day may put them on the path to potentially fatal illnesses. Arteriosclerosis causes the blood vessels to narrow, which in turn can reduce the flow of blood to the heart muscle.

However, the study by University College London also indicates that if teenagers stop drinking and smoking during adolescence, their arteries can return to normal.

Researchers analysed data from 1,266 adolescents from Children of the 90s, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, over five years.

Participants in the high smoking and heavy drinking group had a relative increase of 10.8 per cent in the stiffening of arteries compared with those who had never smoked and low alcohol consumers.

Dr Marietta Charakida, part of the research team, said: “Blood vessel injury occurs very early in life as a result of smoking and drinking and the two together are even more damaging.”