Comprehensive reviews of vape research
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes (2018)
- Public Health England: E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products: evidence review (2018)
- Royal College of Physicians: Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction (2016)
Full Answer
How much research has been done on vaping?
There are at least two dozen new studies on vaping and nicotine published every week. Many of them are about vaping and health. They range from medical studies on vaping health risks to analysis of e-liquid or vapor constituents to research on vaping and nicotine addiction.
What does the science say about vaping?
“Harmless vaping” is a wrong concept, science found. Since most e-liquids contain nicotine, they damage a vaper’s heart and lungs gradually. Nicotine is always harmful, no matter which form you are consuming. When nicotine is absorbed in our body with vaping, it raises our blood pressure and heart rate.
Is vaping actually safer than smoking?
Neither smoking nor vaping is beneficial to human health. Based on the available evidence, smoking appears to be more harmful than vaping. However, this does not mean that vaping is safe. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, vaping may be slightly less harmful than smoking.
Why vaping is bad facts?
Vaping is not only bad for lung health, but it also causes problems for the teeth and gums as well. One study conducted in 2018 showed that several e-juices caused bacterial growth on the teeth, which led to users developing cavities.
How does electronic cigarettes affect the lung?
What are the carrier oils in vaping?
What diseases are caused by smoking e-cigarettes?
Do e-cigarettes cause lung problems?
Does vaping cause physical damage?
Does vaping harm your lungs?
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What are the proven effects of vaping?
2: Research suggests vaping is bad for your heart and lungs. It causes you to crave a smoke and suffer withdrawal symptoms if you ignore the craving. Nicotine is a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.
Is vape more harmful than cigarettes?
Also known as vapes or e-cigs, they're far less harmful than cigarettes, and can help you quit smoking for good.
What percentage of teenagers vape?
Data also shows that teens are not simply experimenting with e-cigarettes but are instead using them habitually. In 2021, more than a quarter (27.6%) of high school e-cigarette users and 8.3% of current middle school e-cigarette users reported vaping daily, according to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
What are 5 risks of vaping?
Vaping has been linked to lung injury.Rapid onset of coughing.Breathing difficulties.Weight loss.Nausea and vomiting.Diarrhea.
What are the benefits of vape?
Benefits of vaping Vaping can help some people quit smoking. Vaping is usually cheaper than smoking. Vaping is not harmless, but it is much less harmful than smoking. Vaping is less harmful to those around you than smoking, as there's no current evidence that second-hand vapour is dangerous to others.
What is the healthiest vape?
The PAX 3 is consistently ranked one of the healthiest vapes, and it's an incredibly customizable conduction vaporizer suitable for dry herb and wax. Heated through thermal conduction, the PAX 3 doesn't sear your material.
Is vape a drug?
While “vape” itself is not necessarily a drug, vaping products often contain harmful substances, like nicotine and THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). These substances can have a negative impact on your teenager's physical health and brain development.
What age group vapes the most?
Teens and young adults. Gallup says that 20% of people age 18 to 29 vape, compared to 9% of people age 30 to 49, 7% of people age 50 to 64, and less than 0.5% of people older than 65. And, according to the Truth Initiative, 15- to 17-year-olds are 16 times more likely to vape than 25- to 34-year-olds.
What percentage of kids vape high school?
2022 Findings on Youth E-Cigarette Use In 2022, about 1 in 10 or more than 2.5 million U.S. middle and high school students currently used e-cigarettes (past 30-day). 14.1% (2.14 million) of high school students and 3.3% (380,000) of middle school students reported current e-cigarette use.
Does vaping cause weight loss?
So does vaping make you lose weight? Well the answer is yes, it could. While you aren't going to suddenly drop multiple sizes, vaping can speed up your metabolism and suppress appetite so it's true that using an e-cig can help you keep the pounds off.
How do lungs heal from vaping?
However, there are certain lifestyle behaviors you can practice to try and accelerate the rate at which your lungs heal.Drink Lots Of Water. ... Eat Healthy Foods. ... Exercise Regularly. ... Cough. ... Clean Your Living Space. ... Practice Deep Breathing. ... Try Steam Therapy.
Why do teenagers vape?
addiction, they like the “hit” they get from nicotine. appealing flavors (e.g. fruit, candy, dessert) devices are seen as trendy, or a status symbol. they consider vaping “harmless” and “safer than smoking” in order to quit or cut down on smoking.
Should I smoke or vape?
Vaping is less harmful and cheaper than smoking, and can have a similar feel. Smoking is bad for your health as the toxins produced by burning tobacco cause smoking-related illnesses. The majority of health benefits are seen when you stop smoking completely.
How many puffs of a vape is equal to a cigarette?
10 puffsTypically, manufacturers advise that 10 puffs on your vape are about the same as 10 puffs on your cigarette. They further speculate that 10 puffs are all you take on one cigarette. Of course, this varies based on how big your puffs are, how strong your vape device is, and how much nicotine you are using.
How many cigarettes are in a vape?
The basics of vaping and nicotine amount in Disposable Vapes A disposable vape with a 2ml tank (the legal max size in the UK) with a 20mg nicotine or Nic Salt, contains 40mg of nicotine in the entire disposable (2ml x 20mg). This is why most disposables are suggested to be the equivalent of a pack of 20 cigarettes.
What are 10 risks of vaping?
Serious & Potentially Long-Term Effects of VapingNicotine addiction.Severe lung injury.Seizures.Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP), formerly known as idiopathic bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP)Popcorn lung.Strokes.Heart attacks.
4 Major Health Risks Linked To E-Cigarette Use - WebMD
E-cigarette use, or "vaping," has been linked to lung, heart, brain, and gum illnesses. While using e-cigarettes ("vaping") may be healthier than smoking traditional cigarettes, users still face ...
How many studies are there on vaping?
Vaping health studies. There are at least two dozen new studies on vaping and nicotine published every week. Many of them are about vaping and health. They range from medical studies on vaping health risks to analysis of e-liquid or vapor constituents to research on vaping and nicotine addiction. Some are released with a lot ...
How does vaping affect heart, lung, and circulatory health?
There is no true long-term vaping research—because the products haven’t been around long enough, but also because most vapers previously smoked cigarettes, and it’s probably impossible to separate the effects caused by years of smoking from any health problems potentially caused by vaping. That’s what makes this 2017 vape study unique. It tracked health markers for 3.5 years in a group of vapers who had never smoked.
Is vaping a gateway to teenage smoking?
Many e-cigarette skeptics worry that vaping might lead naive adolescent users to smoking cigarettes, undoing decades of progress in reducing smoking uptake among teens. But that hasn’t happened—at least not at a population level. In fact, since the advent of vaping, teen smoking has fallen rapidly to its lowest level ever. Just 4.2 percent of 12th graders smoked in 2017, according to the CDC. Compare that to 24.6 percent in 1997.
What percentage of vapers quit smoking?
After a year, 18 percent of the vaping group was abstinent from cigarettes—almost twice as many as the smokers who used pharmaceutical nicotine products (9.9 percent). “The figure may sound low,” said the study leader Prof. Peter Hajek, “but…if they were quitting on their own, the quit rate would be about 3 percent.”.
What flavor do vapers prefer?
The survey showed that more than 80 percent of current, former and never smokers who vape preferred fruit or dessert/pastry/bakery flavors. And among the vapers who have completely quit smoking, just 7.7 percent prefer to vape tobacco flavors.
What flavors do vapers like?
Two papers published in 2018 confirm that adult vapers prefer sweet and fruity flavors to the tobacco flavors that most non-vapers assume ex-smokers would like.
How long did the study track health markers?
It tracked health markers for 3.5 years in a group of vapers who had never smoked. The researchers carefully measured indicators of heart, lung, and circulatory health, and compared them to the same markers in a control group of non-vapers who had also never smoked. The findings were uniformly positive.
How does electronic cigarettes affect the lung?
The first study on the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes finds that the devices are linked to an increased risk of chronic lung diseases , according to research published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study included 32,000 adults in the U.S.
What are the carrier oils in vaping?
Carrier oils, such as vitamin E acetate, heavy metals, flavorings and other toxins have all been implicated. The vast majority of cases have involved vaping marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, THC. And in many cases, counterfeit vapes were used.
What diseases are caused by smoking e-cigarettes?
By 2016, investigators found people who used e-cigarettes were 30 percent more likely to have developed a chronic lung disease, including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, than nonusers.
Do e-cigarettes cause lung problems?
Those who smoked regular, combustible cigarettes had a higher risk of developing chronic lung diseases than those who used only e-cigarettes. But the study also found many adult smokers who tried e-cigarettes ended up using both forms of tobacco.
Does vaping cause physical damage?
The research adds to a growing body of evidence that vaping can cause physical harm, whether it's chemical burns to lung tissue, toxic metals that leave lasting scars on lungs, vitamin E oil that clogs lungs or even overheated batteries that explode.
Does vaping harm your lungs?
Vaping can harm your lungs relatively quickly, increasing the risk of conditions like asthma and bronchitis. New research explores the long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes. Hollie Adams / Bloomberg via Getty Images file.
Why is it important to understand the nature and attitude of e-cigarettes use among young adults?
Understanding the nature and attitude of e-cigarettes use among young adults is very important as this is the period when they transition into social contexts (e.g., college, peer pressure, and workplace) often resulting in an increased prevalence in substance use and the development of addictive patterns [18] . This raises a public health concern as it suggests that the younger generations of users, which have the highest rates of electronic cigarettes use, might become addicted to these devices despite unknown long-term physiologic and pathologic consequences [19].
What is an e-cigarette?
This raises significant health concerns [1]. Simply put, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are electronic devices designed to vaporize chemical compounds. These devices have different components, including a mouthpiece, a liquid tank, a heating element, and a battery [2]. They come in various shapes, sizes, and device types, and are known by different names to different users. The most common terminologies include e-cigs, vapes, e-hookahs, vape pens, mods, tanks, or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The process of using the devices is sometimes referred to as vaping or juuling, the latter so named for the particular device brand [3].
What are the health risks of smoking e-cigarettes?
The device is made up of a mouthpiece, liquid tank, a heating element, and a battery. E-cigarette use may pose health risks in the form of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. These health risks have implications to not only the primary user, but the aerosols can also cause secondhand and thirdhand injuries to others in the vicinity. Acute lung injury may also be associated with the use of e-cigarettes, but the underlying cause remains unknown. Clinicians, including hospitalists, pulmonologists, intensivists, medical examiners, pathologists, and the like, should report possible cases as the medical community continues to assess the health risks of e-cigarette use.
What are the symptoms of e-cigarette use?
Most of the patients in their study presented with shortness of breath, cough, and chest pain [12]. The severity of the illness varied from mild shortness of breath requiring oxygen supplementation via nasal cannula to severe debilitating respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation [12,13]. Five patients identified in July and August 2019 had acute lung injury associated with e-cigarette use. These patients were identified in two different hospitals in North Carolina, all were admitted for hypoxemic respiratory failure. All the patients reported a history of recent e-cigarette use. They were initially admitted for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), but their symptoms worsened with conventional treatment for CAP. They were eventually diagnosed with acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia [13]. Another patient had presented with shortness of breath; investigations yielded a diagnosis of spontaneous pneumothorax. An 18-year-old patient had no history of cigarette smoking but endorsed daily use of e-cigarettes. The patient then had a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax. He had no significant medical or surgical history to increase his propensity for spontaneous pneumothorax [14].
Does vaping cause ground glass opacities?
Chest computed tomography scans obtained from patients with vaping-associated lung disease showed significant findings. Ground-glass opacities seem to be a common finding in the imaging studies of most patients with e-cigarette-associated lung disease [16,17].
Is vaping associated with pulmonary disease?
So far, most of the literature on vaping-associated pulmonary disease we have are case reports and case series. A high index of suspicion is paramount as there are reports of patients that rapidly progressed to acute respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation [3]. The use of ENDS continues to grow in the United States. For example, while the use of combustible tobacco cigarettes has declined significantly, the United States ENDS market now exceeds 8 billion dollars [4]. At the moment, there are regular advertisements for e-cigarettes, promoting them as viable and safe alternatives to cigarettes smoking despite an absence of any studies to prove superior efficacy to conventional smoking cessation strategies already studied, such as nicotine replacement, bupropion hydrochloride, varenicline, and counseling [5]. E-cigarettes use may pose health risks in the form of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Tobacco cigarette smoking is the primary cause of preventable cardiovascular death in the United States, and smoking cessation has long been the focus of significant public health efforts. The rates of tobacco smoking in the United States have continued to decline and reached historic lows according to a Surgeon General report in 2014. However, with this decline, the use of electronic cigarettes, introduced in 2007, has markedly increased, especially among young people [6]. Healthcare providers should be on the alert for symptoms suggestive of acute lung injury secondary to vaping and remind patients that even though some e-cigarettes contain nicotine, they are currently not approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a cessation aid for smokers. Clinicians, including hospitalists, pulmonologists, medical examiners, primary care physicians, pathologists, and the like, are reminded to report possible cases [3,7]. People should consider not using e-cigarettes. This is especially the case for high-risk groups, including those without prior experiences, teenagers, pregnant women/nursing mothers, or adults who do not currently use oral tobacco products. These health risks have implications to not only the primary user, but the aerosols can also cause secondhand and thirdhand injuries to others in the vicinity. However, the regulations for public e-cigarette use vary across states and are inconsistent across cities within certain states. These variations in restrictions exist in both locations and types of product use, public versus private use, and types of products allowed in certain places [7]. Consumers in most states must be 18 years or older to purchase the device, although underage sales have been reported in retailers and online. The Food and Drug Administration has expressed concerns that certain flavored e-cigarettes are appealing to youth who may be unaware of the products’ addictiveness and some others who may have never tried a nicotine product [8]. There are many compounds in the aerosols and liquids and the selling point mostly used is that it can serve as a “Healthier” alternative to tobacco smoking even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved this. The American Cancer Society discourages the dual use of electronic cigarettes and cigarettes because such use has not resulted in reduced exposures to the harmful effects of smoking [9,10]. Flavoring was considered by most users as the most important reason for vaping [10]. Over the past year, the Center for Disease Control has drawn attention to severe pulmonary disease associated with the use of electronic cigarette products. There have been reports of more than 200 cases associated with the use of these devices, using both known and unknown products [11]. The exact cause of these findings is still uncertain. Available data have been either case reports or case series. Some of the reported cases of e-cigarette-associated pulmonary illnesses include spontaneous pneumothorax, acute eosinophilic pneumonia, respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, organizing pneumonia, and acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia [12-14].
What are vaping devices?
Vaping devices, also known as e-cigarettes, vape pens, and e-hookahs among other terms, come in many shapes and sizes. Some look like traditional cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Others are shaped like every-day objects, such as pens or USB memory sticks.
What chemicals are in vaping?
Vaping exposes the lungs to a variety of chemicals. These may include the main active chemicals in tobacco (nicotine) or marijuana (THC), flavorants, and other ingredients that are added to vaping liquids. Plus, other chemicals can be produced during the vaporizing process.
How old do you have to be to vape?
New laws are aimed at curbing vaping among teens. People must now be 21 to buy any tobacco product, including vaping products. And companies can no longer produce and sell flavors that appeal to children like fruit and mint. If you’ve already started vaping or smoking cigarettes, it’s never too late to quit.
How does puffing work?
While they may look different, most vaping devices work in a similar way. Puffing activates a battery-powered heating device. This heats the liquid in a cartridge, turning it into vapors that are inhaled.
Can nicotine be inhaled in a vaporizer?
Plus, other chemicals can be produced during the vaporizing process. “If the liquid has nicotine in it, then the user is inhaling nicotine along with the other ingredients in the liquid,” explains Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, an expert on tobacco research at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Is vaping harmful?
So how safe is vaping? Studies suggest nicotine vaping may be less harmful than traditional cigarettes when people who regularly smoke switch to them as a complete replacement. But nicotine vaping could still damage your health.
Is vaping more popular in high school?
Vaping is now more popular among teens than smoking traditional cigarettes. One in four high school seniors say they vaped nicotine in the past month. And studies have found that teens who vape nicotine may be more likely to go on to smoke traditional cigarettes.
Research explores immune abnormalities, artery health, and the balance of bacteria in the mouth and throat
Reports of lung injuries from e-cigarettes splash across the news these days, but the nicotine-delivery devices are also spawning a quieter worry: whether users risk long-term health effects that may not manifest for decades.
Youth movement
E-cigarettes have soared in popularity among young people in the United States, as shown by data on the percentage who used the products in the past 30 days.
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What is a vape pen?
With vaping, a device (typically a vape pen or a mod — an enhanced vape pen — that may look like a flash drive) heats up a liquid ( called vape juice or e -liquid) until it turns into a vapor that you inhale. “Vaping is a delivery system similar to a nebulizer, which people with asthma or other lung conditions may be familiar with,” says Broderick. ...
What is the food additive used to deepen e-cigarette flavors?
Diacetyl: This food additive, used to deepen e-cigarette flavors, is known to damage small passageways in the lungs.
Does vaping affect the lungs?
Instead of bathing lung tissue with a therapeutic mist, just as a nebulizer does, vaping coats lungs with potentially harmful chemicals. E-liquid concoctions usually include some mix of flavorings, aromatic additives and nicotine or THC (the chemical in marijuana that causes psychological effects), dissolved in an oily liquid base.
Is second hand vapor safe?
Secondhand Vapor Isn’t Safe Either. It’s a myth that secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes are harmless. Many people think the secondhand vapor is just water, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The vapor emitted when someone exhales contains a variety of dangerous substances, which may include: Nicotine.
Does diacetyl help with popcorn lung?
Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult. Popcorn lung has no lasting treatment. There are, however, treatments that manage BO symptoms, such as:
How does electronic cigarettes affect the lung?
The first study on the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes finds that the devices are linked to an increased risk of chronic lung diseases , according to research published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study included 32,000 adults in the U.S.
What are the carrier oils in vaping?
Carrier oils, such as vitamin E acetate, heavy metals, flavorings and other toxins have all been implicated. The vast majority of cases have involved vaping marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, THC. And in many cases, counterfeit vapes were used.
What diseases are caused by smoking e-cigarettes?
By 2016, investigators found people who used e-cigarettes were 30 percent more likely to have developed a chronic lung disease, including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, than nonusers.
Do e-cigarettes cause lung problems?
Those who smoked regular, combustible cigarettes had a higher risk of developing chronic lung diseases than those who used only e-cigarettes. But the study also found many adult smokers who tried e-cigarettes ended up using both forms of tobacco.
Does vaping cause physical damage?
The research adds to a growing body of evidence that vaping can cause physical harm, whether it's chemical burns to lung tissue, toxic metals that leave lasting scars on lungs, vitamin E oil that clogs lungs or even overheated batteries that explode.
Does vaping harm your lungs?
Vaping can harm your lungs relatively quickly, increasing the risk of conditions like asthma and bronchitis. New research explores the long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes. Hollie Adams / Bloomberg via Getty Images file.
