The smell of burnt food is usually enough to make you lose your appetite. But if you’re a smoker, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“There are no studies that show that the smoke itself would cause harm,” says Dr. Michael J. Smith, who directs the lung health and regenerative medicine program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “But there are studies that show that if someone has asthma or some other respiratory problem, they can get worse when they inhale smoke.”

Inhaling smoke from burning food may cause irritation in people who already have respiratory problems such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In these cases, the smoke could trigger an asthma attack or make existing symptoms worse.

Some people also experience an allergic reaction to cigarette smoke, which could lead to wheezing and coughing when exposed to cigarette smoke for long periods of time.

However, if you don’t have any breathing problems and just enjoy smoking occasionally, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t light up after barbecuing some steak or chicken kebabs on the grill.

Last modified: October 26, 2022