Researchers discover worrying effect vaping has on your body seconds after you inhale
Vaping is seen as a less harmful alternative to smoking by many, but research is revealing more and more health risks associated with it
Researchers have identified worrying health issues related to vaping, with them taking a hold of your body within seconds of puffing on an electronic cigarette device.
Long touted as a less harmful alternative to smoking tobacco products, evidence is growing around the harm of vaping as more and more studies are done in to the devices used to simulate having a ciggy.
Here in the United Kingdom, the Government has confirmed disposable vapes will be banned in 2025 to curb their growing use in children as young as 11 years old. A vaping tax is also being introduced, which will more than double the price of liquids used in refillable vapes.
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It is part of a wider crackdown by Sir Keir Starmer's government to improve public health, with a first of its kind generational smoking ban coming in as the habit becomes more popular among younger people.
Now, released today (25 November), new research published by the Radiological Society of North America (RNSA) has shown acute effects on your 'vascular function' from both vapes and cigarettes - and that is even with no nicotine being smoked.
"Vapes contain significantly fewer chemicals and toxins than are found in tobacco smoke. As a result, e-cigarettes are believed by many to be less harmful than cigarette smoking," the RNSA says.
But according to the new study produced by Marianne Nabbout MD, we need to re-evaluate the impact vaping has on our body, with the harm still there.
"E-cigarettes have long been marketed as a safer alternative to regular tobacco smoking," Dr Nabbout, a radiology resident at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, said.
"Some believe that e-cigarettes don't contain any of the harmful products, such as free radicals, found in regular tobacco cigarettes, because no combustion is involved."
In the study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr Nabbout and colleagues sought to identify the acute effects on vascular function - the ability to carry blood through the body as needed - of cigarette smoking and the immediate effects of e-cigarette vaping, with and without nicotine.
A total of 31 healthy smokers and vapers ranging in age from 21 to 49 years have been included in the study to date.
In three separate sessions, study participants underwent two MRI exams, one before and one after each of the following smoking / vaping episodes: tobacco cigarette, e-cigarette aerosol with nicotine and e-cigarette aerosol without nicotine.
A cuff was placed on the upper thigh to restrict blood flow. Once deflated, femoral artery flow velocity (a measure of the speed of blood flow in the femoral artery) and venous oxygen saturation (a measure of the amount of oxygen in the blood that returns to the heart after supplying oxygen to the body's tissues) were evaluated. Cerebrovascular (blood flow in the brain) reactivity was measured with a special type of MRI called phase-contrast MRI.
The data of the smokers and vapers was then compared to the baseline scans of 10 non-smokers and non-vapers ranging from 21 to 33 years old.
Following inhalation of each type of vaping or smoking, there was a significant decrease in the resting blood flow velocity in the superficial femoral artery. This artery runs along the thigh and supplies oxygenated blood to the entire lower body.
The decrease in vascular function was most pronounced after inhalation of e-cigarettes containing nicotine, followed by e-cigarettes without nicotine. Decreased venous oxygen saturation was also present in vapers, whether or not the e-cigarettes contained nicotine. This suggests an immediate decrease in the uptake of oxygen by the lungs after vaping.
According to Dr. Nabbout, the take-home message for the public is that vaping may not be free of harm. She said: "Ultimately, we are relying on science to help guide the regulation of such products in favor of public health. Refraining from smoking and vaping is always recommended."
Tom Earnshaw