A team of domestic scientists has produced a research paper showing that smoking accelerates aging.

The team led by Professor Cho Kyung-hyun at Yeungnam University analyzed blood samples of 20 people in their 20s who smoked fewer than ten cigarettes per day over a period of three years.

The analysis found that “Apolipoprotein A-I,” a major protein component of high density lipoprotein (HDL) in the subjects’ blood was as damaged and mutated, resembling  blood of elderly people in their 70s.

The protein is known to help reduce the body's cholesterol level and prevent arteriosclerosis.

The research team also said that aging accelerated in skin cells injected with the mutated protein. 

The findings were published in the academic journal Toxicological Sciences.