Vaping Studies: What Does The Science Say About Vaping?
The Science of Vaping
We are all witnesses of the increased popularity of vaping, especially among youth. National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that teens who vape are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 12% of adults have tried e-cigarettes at least once in their life.
If you are trying to quit smoking, you have probably read a bunch of articles online regarding the benefits of vaping or how vaping has nothing to do with smoking cessation. The problem is that the majority of articles on the web are funded either by vaping companies or vaping haters.
For us, the potential consumers, this is often confusing and sends mixed message. The only credible source of information should be scientific studies, but there aren’t many of those. For this reason we have compiled a list of some of the most significant studies about vaping that can help you form the critical opinion regarding vaping.
Can E-Cigs Help in Nicotine Addiction Treatment?
Oliver Knight-West and Cristopher Bullen conducted a research in 2016, in which they compared several studies about the influence of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation.
In one study, participants who were using e-cigarettes that contained nicotine managed to quit smoking for six months. The other group of participants, who were getting a placebo, did not manage to maintain abstinence.
The authors also examined the results of the study that claims that smokers who were vaping daily had a tendency to smoke less since they started vaping.
Longitudinal studies tend to show different results when it comes to efficiency of e-cigarettes as smoking reduction tools. For example, according to a study conducted in the U.K., daily vapers were more likely to quit smoking and maintain abstinence for up to two years than non-vapers.
In another study in the U.S., vapers show the higher possibility of quitting than non-vapers.
On the other hand, a longitudinal study examined the smoking cessation among more than 900 individuals. The researchers found that people who vaped had more difficulties to quit smoking. One of the many possible explanations of this result might be that quitting may be an issue for people who used e-cigarettes with nicotine.
The bottom line is that the FDA suggests other quit smoking aids such as nicotine patches, nicotine gums, nicotine nasal sprays, or some other FDA-approved products.
Is Vaping Bad for Your Health?
According to Farsalinos and associates, the majority of study participants considered vaping less harmful than smoking, and more than 10% found it completely harmless. The only side effects of vaping, according to users, were a sore throat and dry mouth.
The FDA has its own concerns regarding the impact vaping can have on people’s health. Some of those issues are:
- E- cigarettes may induce nicotine addiction among teenagers
- Some e- cigarette ingredients may be harmful to individual’s health
Surgeon General emphasizes the fact that the nicotine is addictive no matter whether you smoke it or vape it.
Because of the lack of longitudinal studies about the impact of vaping on a person’s health, scientists only assume that vaping is less harmful than smoking. They often refer to it as “the lesser of two evils.”
Leon Kosmider and associates discovered that PG-based solution generated the highest level of carbonyl which is known for its cancerogenic properties. Also, the level of formaldehyde in high voltage vaping devices was almost the same as in tobacco smoke.
According to the study conducted by Priscilla Callahan-Lyon, there is not enough evidence available at the present moment to be able to determine the negative effects of vaping on overall health. However, by examining available literature, the author claims that e- cigarettes contain certain chemicals that can cause throat irritation and cough. Additionally, products with the higher level of nicotine can have negative effects on second-hand smokers. Factors that influence the second-hand smoking effects are:
- Air flow
- Room size
- Number of users in the room
- Voltage of the battery
The study didn’t find any differences in heart rate or plasma nicotine levels after acute exposure to e- cigarettes. Also, study participants did not show any differences in lung function, cardiac function, or inflammatory markers.
Given the fact that vaping and e- cigarettes are a relatively new field of research, it is understandable why there are so few studies regarding the benefits and/or negative effects of vaping. In the sea of information, it is difficult to determine which source is credible, especially when it comes to subject as complex and big as vaping and e-cigarette industry.
Keeping in mind all the information listed above, it is not difficult to conclude that vaping is not as harmful as smoking conventional cigarettes. But despite that, this is only an assumption, and all we can do is wait for the groundbreaking study which would confirm that theory.