There is no denying in the saying that e-cigarette users inhale less harmful toxins than those who use normal cigarettes. This is also a reason that attracted millions of the smokers to quit traditional smoking and switch to cigarette vaporizers. A recent study showed that almost 2.9 million children are switching to e-cigarettes as it’s considered a safer, better, less expensive and less harmful alternate.
Now a British study published in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that the smokers, who switch to e-cigarettes even if it’s for less time, dramatically reduce their exposure to the toxins and other harmful air pollutants.
This is indeed a great move in the right direction. The new study will influence the vaping industry and supports the use of e-cigarettes over traditional smoking that many of the previous studies have verified. The research included 40 participants who were passionate to quit smoking. The researchers gave them e-cigarettes; the 16 persons who used just e-cigarettes reported 80% drop in the toxins including carbon monoxide and other harmful pollutants. The 17 participants who swapped some regular cigarettes for the electronic version had a 52 percent decline in carbon monoxide exposure and a 60 percent decline for acrolein, according to the study published in Cancer Prevention Research.
The lead study author Hayden McRobbie, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University of London noted that in order to achieve the most benefit from e-cigarettes, the traditional smokers must completely give up normal cigarettes. McRobbie had to add, the process is slow but really encouraging for the smokers. Once they know they are getting potential benefits after switching to e-cigarettes, they are more encouraged and this is the best thing about vaping.
As many studies have emerged that favor e-smoking over traditional smoking, the tobacco control advocates are afraid this new trend of e-cigarettes will give rise to the new generations that’s addicted to new nicotine technique. Their concerns are right but have are totally obsolete. In many of the studies, we have learned the devices used for e-smoking are benefiting the health of people who already smoke.
After the study appeared, many other doctors and researchers have shared their valuable views as well. Many agree that the study is good enough to offer incentives but there is a dire need to organize more researches of this kind so that the scientists and medical experts can reach to a definite conclusion regarding the benefits of e-cigarettes.
“It is exactly the type of incremental, careful work that is needed but it is not yet a definitive study,” Rigotti, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. Over time, carbon monoxide inhaled with cigarette smoke can decrease the amount of oxygen carried in red blood cells. It can also lead to hardening of the arteries, heart disease and strokes.
The 40 smokers included in the research were subject to tests before and after the trial. They all had tried twice to quit smoking and switch to e-cigarettes before join this experiment. The authors measured carbon monoxide before and after the trial ended. The significant reduction in acrolein in this group was the “headline finding,” they write.
There was a limitation to the study, too, that the researchers admitted. The people involved in the study were willing to quit smoking and switch to e-cigarettes. But the results might have been different for the smokers with no intentions to quit smoking and keep up their habit of normal cigarettes. It’s also possible that the specific model of e-cigarette used in the study might not be representative of other devices.
Still, the findings suggest smokers should be told e-cigarettes may curb their exposure to toxic chemicals, said Dr. Riccardo Polosa, head of the tobacco research center at the University of Catania in Italy. “This study adds to the evidence that e-cigarettes are much less harmful compared to conventional cigarettes,” Polosa, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
