Researchers Use New Method to Find Heart Disease - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Experts might be able to gauge a woman's risk of heart disease due to smoking from an unexpected place: her toenails.  

Because toenails grow relatively slowly, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, say nail clippings might be able to provide a more long term look at nicotine exposure, as opposed to urine or saliva samples, which only reflect a few days' worth of tobacco.

The study included more than 60,000 women smokers and those who had been diagnosed with heart disease had twice the amount of nicotine in their toenails than women without heart disease.