There's no doubt that cigarette smoking causes heart disease and cancers, even damage the DNA. Hence, if you care about your heart and overall health, you should quit smoking. And, one of the widely used tools for quitting smoking is e-cigs. However, recent study1 finds e-cigs or electronic cigarettes is linked to heart disease risk.
The co-author of the study Holly Middlekauff says;
The pattern was spot-on” for what has been seen in heart attack patients and those with heart disease and diabetes.
Do E-Cigs Increases Heart Disease Risk?
UCLA researchers looked at regular electronic cigarette users who are using it on most days for at least a year. Furthermore, the study also involved non-smokers and non-vapers. All the participants have ages ranging from 21 to 14 years old with no known medical conditions or take prescription medication.
The researchers find that e-cig users have high levels of epinephrine in the heart, which is a sign of heart disease. Moreover, the researchers also found signs of increased oxidative stress, which is an imbalance of protective molecules that can cause narrowing and hardening of the arteries.
A U.N. Systematic Review of Health Effects of Electronic Cigarettes1 in 2015 says;
Many studies have found stress and inflammation in cells exposed to e-cigarettes.
However, this is just a small study involving a few people, which makes the results not definitive. In a small study, 2 or 3 participants can easily skew the results says John Ambrose, a cardiologist at UCSF.
Ambrose adds that there are e-cig users in the study who used to smoke tobacco, which may bias the final findings. But, Ambrose doesn't ignore the results but instead call it interesting.
He also noted that;
The medical community just doesn’t have enough information to figure out if e-cigarettes are dangerous.
What We Should Know About E-Cigs?
Right now, there are studies on electronic cigarettes but unfortunately, the findings are sometimes conflicting. The co-author of this study, Holly Middlekauff says;
Electronic cigarettes aren’t harmless. They have real, measurable physiological effects and these physiological effects, at least the couple that we found, have been associated with heart disease.
So, with that in mind, let's take a look what is an e-cig? What chemicals electronic cigarettes have and are they safe?
E-Cigs For Quitting Smoking
Some people claim e-cigs have helped them quit smoking. However, many of the former smokers didn't quit at all but they simply switched to vaping.
Electronic cigarettes may be helpful for those who are struggling to quit smoking. However, e-cigs should not be used as a substitute for cigarette smoking especially that long-term effects of doing so are still uncertain.