For
adults who are looking to quit smoking cigarettes,
e-cigarettes (also known as
vapes, e-cigs, and vape pens) have become a common option. They work by heating
a liquid that usually contains nicotine into an aerosol that is then inhaled. They
can still feed a nicotine addiction, but they do so without burning tobacco,
which produces smoke that can damage the lungs and potentially lead to lung
cancer, emphysema, and other lung issues, according to the National Cancer
Institute.
اضافة اعلان
“Nicotine is harmful
in that it perpetuates addiction to smoking,” said Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, an
associate professor of evidence-based policy and practice at the
University of Oxford and a member of the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group. But, she added,
nicotine itself is not what causes the kind of lung damage that can lead to
cancer and other issues.
How safe are e-cigarettes?
That does not mean e-cigarettes are entirely safe. Nicotine is highly
addictive, and it can harm brain development in adolescents and young adults.
It is also toxic to developing fetuses and is not safe for those who are
pregnant, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
E-cigarette vapor can contain other potentially harmful substances, including
flavorings, cancer-causing chemicals such as acetaldehyde or formaldehyde,
ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, and heavy metals
such as nickel, tin, and lead.
Some research
also suggests that e-cigarettes can be an on-ramp for cigarette smoking for
young adults. In a study released in early October, federal health officials
reported that 2.55 million US middle and high school students said they were
current users of e-cigarettes in 2022 — meaning they had reported e-cigarette
use at least once in the past 30 days. That figure included about 14 percent of
high school students and about 3 percent of middle school students.
For adult cigarette smokers, though, some evidence suggests that e-cigarettes may hold promise in helping people quit.
In one review of
studies published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2017, researchers concluded that
adolescents and young adults who used e-cigarettes were 3.6 times as likely to
smoke cigarettes later in life when compared with those who did not use
e-cigarettes.
In September,
Juul Labs tentatively agreed to pay a $438.5 million settlement over claims the
company marketed its products to teens.
Can e-cigarettes help curb smoking?
For adult
cigarette smokers, though, some evidence suggests that
e-cigarettes may hold promise in helping people quit. In a 2021 Cochrane
review, researchers looked at 61 studies that included 16,759 adults who smoked
cigarettes. They found that those who used nicotine e-cigarettes were more
likely to stop smoking conventional cigarettes for at least six months than
those who used other kinds of nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches
or gums, or nicotine-free e-cigarettes.
Aside from delivering nicotine, experts say,
e-cigarettes may also be effective at helping people quit because they mimic
the action and behaviors of smoking. “It would be stunning if e-cigarettes did
not help people to quit smoking,” said Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public
health sciences and psychiatry at the Penn State University College of Medicine
who studies how smokers overcome their tobacco addictions.
Even occasional
e-cigarette use can offer benefits. In a study published in 2021, Foulds and
his colleagues found that smokers who replaced some of their cigarette smoking
with high-nicotine e-cigarettes reduced their smoking by about half within 24
weeks, and reduced their exposures to harmful toxins associated with tobacco
smoke.
Although these
reviews are promising, Hartmann-Boyce said that e-cigarettes were still a new
and rapidly evolving technology, so it’s challenging to know what nicotine
levels in e-cigarettes are best when it comes to helping people quit smoking
cigarettes.
For adults looking
to reduce or stop cigarette smoking, the available evidence suggests that
e-cigarettes can be a viable option, Hartmann-Boyce said. They won’t work for
everyone, she said, but “we need a tool kit of things people can try.”
Foulds said that because
the
Food and Drug Administration regulated e-cigarettes as tobacco products
instead of as smoking cessation aids, there was little research on exactly how
e-cigarettes could be used by people who want to stop smoking cigarettes.
Instead, he recommended that people who want to quit try consulting certain
online resources, such as those from Britain’s National Health Service, or
forums, such as the E-Cigarette Forum, where e-cigarette users share what
worked for them.
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