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Nicotine induces prediabetes, likely contributes to high prevalence of heart disease in smokers 

Researchers have discovered a reason why smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Nicotine promotes insulin resistance, also called prediabetes, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to the new study, which was presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Additionally, the study authors were able to partially reverse this harmful effect of nicotine in mice by treating them with the nicotine antagonist mecamylamine, a drug that blunts the action of nicotine.

The study, which the National Institutes of Health funded, was conducted by researchers at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif.

Their results may explain why cigarette smokers have a high cardiovascular death rate, even though "smoking causes weight loss, which should protect against heart disease," said the study's lead author, Theodore Friedman, MD, PhD, chief of the endocrinology division at Charles Drew University.

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