There is no question that smoking cigarettes is terrible for your health. This has been a widely known reality for decades. A new study now suggests that vaping could be just as bad for your heart. Vaping is the act of inhaling vapors created by an electronic cigarette, sometimes called a vape. The new study warns that even the best electronic cigarettes may actually be far more dangerous than we were led to believe.
The groundbreaking study found that a typical smoking session using an electronic device caused similar effects to the main artery of the heart as smoking an actual cigarette. This research was presented at the largest cardiology conference in the world and has added to the growing controversy about how safe e-cigarettes and vaping is.
Vaping Vs. Smoking
Overall, vaping and e-cigarettes have been thought to be significantly safer than traditional cigarettes. In a landmark move last year, Public Health England (PHE) actually endorsed vaping, citing that the practice was 95% less harmful than smoking.[1]They even recommended the use of e-cigarettes as an effective tool for helping people to stop smoking more harmful traditional cigarettes.
The new study monitored the hearts of a group of adult smokers while they vaped. They also monitored their hearts while they smoked standard cigarettes. The researchers reported that during a typical vaping session, there was a similar impact on the stiffness of the aorta (the main artery of the heart) as when smoking a standard cigarette. This means the artery reacted the same regardless of the method.
According to the lead researcher on the study, Professor Charalambos Vlachopoulos from the University of Athens Medical School, “We measured aortic stiffness. If the aorta is stiff, you multiply your risk of dying, either from heart diseases or from other causes.”
The results of a 30-minute vaping session, which researches identified as the typical session length, were very similar to five minutes of smoking a standard cigarette according to the study.
Professor Vlachopoulos said, “The aorta is like a balloon next to the heart. The more stiff the balloon is, the more difficult for the heart to pump. It’s the most powerful biomarker we have for estimating cardiovascular risk.”
The study used 24 adults with an average age of 30. It only examined the immediate effects of cigarette and e-cigarette use.
What This Study Means For Vaping
Based on this study, the long-term risks of using e-cigarettes are still unknown, but after the study, Professor Vlchopoulus would not recommend they be used. “The value of the acute study is that it gives an insight of how long your aorta is stressed throughout the day – because this happens throughout the day, this is something that happens repeatedly,” he said.
According to him, “There could be long-term heart dangers. They are far more dangerous than people realize.”
This is not the only study to suggest that e-cigarettes are not safe. In December 2015, a study released by Harvard University linked the use of e-cigarettes to lung disease. Another study, published in the Journal of Molecular Medicine by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs, found that e-cigarettes are “toxic to airway cells, suppress host defenses, and promote inflammation over time, while also promoting virulence of colonizing bacteria.”
A similar study from Hong Kong, China suggests that e-cigarette chemicals are more harmful to the human body than polluted air.[2] In fact, the researchers reported that the majority of e-cigarettes contain 1 million times more cancer-causing substances than polluted outdoor air. Based on these findings alone, the government of Hong Kong is considering banning the import and sale of e-cigarettes within their borders.[3] Government officials are gravely concerned about the impact of e-cigarettes and vaping on public health.
There are other scientists who still support the claim that e-cigarettes and vaping are a significantly healthier alternative to smoking standard cigarettes. This may be true; however, it is important to note that with the use of e-cigarettes still in its infancy, the long-term ramifications of prolonged vaping cannot be known.
The current study provides warnings related to the short-term and immediate effects of e-cigarette use. The study makes it clear that the use of e-cigarettes is not risk-free. Both e-cigarettes and standard cigarettes pose a similar threat to heart health.
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Image Credits:
Close-up of man with hat smoking an electronic cigar , Woman smoking vapor Via Freepik.com
Featured photo credit: dbknews via dbknews.com
Reference
| [1] | ^ | Gov.uk: E-cigarettes around 95% less harmful than tobacco estimates landmark review |
| [2] | ^ | South China Morning Post: A million times more harmful than outdoor air: Hong Kong study raises e-cigarette cancer alarm |
| [3] | ^ | South China Morning Post: End of vaping in Hong Kong? Government plans to ban import and sale of e-cigarettes |
The post New Study Finds Vaping As Bad For Your Heart As Smoking appeared first on Lifehack.
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