Carbon Monoxide Harms the Body
CO is inhaled into the lungs from polluted or smoky air or from inhaling tobacco smoke. CO
is absorbed into the blood from the lungs. It binds to haemoglobin in red blood cells about
200 times as readily as oxygen. CO deprives the body of oxygen and the body needs
oxygen to live.
Smokers can have between 2% - 10% of their normal blood oxygen taken up by CO. To
compensate for the shortage of oxygen the body has to work harder with less fuel.
A simple test with a COmpact™ Smokerlyzer
®
CO breath tester gives an
indication of the amount of CO in the blood.
2
When you stop smoking the level of carbon
monoxide in the blood falls almost immediately.
Stop Smoking Book
An authoritative stop smoking book written by quit smoking specialist Nicola Willis is
available. The book is designed to work hand-in-hand with the tester and provides useful
information on carbon monoxide and smoking and a wide range of quit smoking subjects.
(Re-order code: CON-BOOK-V)
One-Way Mouthpiece
The tester uses single-use disposable
mouthpieces, which incorporate
one-way valves that address
cross-infection risks.
One-way mouthpiece (Re-order code:
COMPACT-MP-V)
Interpreting the Reading
Carbon monoxide in the breath is measured in parts
per million (ppm). The COmpact™ Smokerlyzer
®
gives 7 levels of reading, one for each
indicator. Each level represents a range of
ppm. The diagram above gives the ppm range
for each indicator and the typical smoking
habit associated with that reading.
Display
Indicator
Display Approx.
ppm Range
Typical Smoking
Status
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
>50
36-50
26-35
16-25
11-15
7-10
0-6
Dangerously addicted
smoker
Heavily addicted smoker
Addicted smoker
Frequent smoker
Smoker
Danger zone
Non-smoker
