Vaping IS better for you than smoking cigarettes… and it’s right the government has finally admitted it
Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death, accounting for around 6 million deaths each year
FOR the first time a government public health campaign has backed e-cigarettes as a way for smokers to quit.
, an annual campaign run by Public Health England, gives smokers a range of options to support them to stop, including Stop Smoking Services, a support app, and now e-cigarettes.
Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death, accounting for around each year.
That’s thanks to the cocktail of over 5,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, of which at least may cause cancer.
E-cigarettes, do not contain tobacco. Instead, they carry a nicotine-containing liquid which is heated into a vapour and inhaled.
The nicotine satisfies the cravings associated with addiction to cigarettes.
It’s not completely harmless but it doesn’t cause serious diseases like cancer – which tobacco does.
Since they arrived on the UK market e-cigarettes have become very popular.
There are now almost in the UK, and more than half of them have completely stopped smoking tobacco.
A new Cancer Research UK-funded shows that success rates for quitting smoking are at their highest level for a decade, and experts say e-cigarettes have made a big contribution.
And when smoking is still responsible for a fifth of all deaths in the UK, it’s great news that they are helping people quit.
But people still have a lot of questions around e-cigarettes.
Are they really safer than tobacco? Does second-hand e-cigarette vapour harm people like second-hand smoke? And are they leading kids into smoking tobacco?
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The research so far shows e-cigarettes are far safer than smoking.
and the have both published reports that reviewed all the evidence, and concluded vaping only carries a fraction of the risk that smoking does.
Earlier this year, a Cancer Research UK-funded was the first to show evidence that long-term e-cigarette users had far lower levels of key harmful toxins in their bodies than tobacco smokers.
While the nicotine found in e-cigarettes doesn’t cause , such as cancers and heart disease, it is addictive.
The best thing for an individual’s health is to quit entirely, but the most important thing is that they stop smoking tobacco.
There’s a common misconception that you can overdose on nicotine by vaping.
But you should actually use your e-cigarette as often as you need to help manage the urges to smoke or, if you want, to wean yourself off nicotine.
Like , if you do have more nicotine than you’re used to, then you might feel a little nauseous or lightheaded, both of which pass quickly.
If this happens, just reduce the level of nicotine in the e-liquid that you buy, or use the e-cigarette less.
Unlike second-hand smoke from cigarettes – which is – there’s no evidence that second-hand e-cigarette vapour is dangerous to others.
have found traces of toxic chemicals in second-hand vapour, but at such low levels that they’re not likely to be harmful to those around you.
There have also been concerns, particularly in America, that e-cigarettes are acting as a gateway for kids to smoke tobacco. But we’re simply not seeing this in the U.K.
A large-scale in the UK showed that although some kids experiment with vaping, it very rarely turns into regular use, especially among young people who have never smoked.
And as smoking rates in young people continue to decline, there is no evidence that e-cigarette use is leading to smoking.
If you’re still a smoker, stopping is the best thing you can do for your health.
The resources provided by the Stoptober campaign can help you quit for good.
And if you’ve tried other methods and you still can’t quit, it’s worth giving vaping a shot.
Just one puff of an E-cigarette ‘increases your risk of a heart attack’
IT is sold as a better alternative to smoking that could even help you quit fags for good.
But new research suggests e-cigarettes containing nicotine could increase your risk of heart disease.
Researchers found just one vape caused a spike of adrenaline levels in the hearts of non-smokers.
But this did not happen when they used e-cigarettes without nicotine in the vaping fluid.
Lead author Dr. Holly Middlekauff, from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), said: "While e-cigarettes typically deliver fewer carcinogens than are found in the tar of tobacco cigarette smoke, they also usually deliver nicotine.
"Many believe that the tar, not the nicotine, is what leads to increased cancer and heart attack risks.
"So, we asked the question, 'are e-cigarettes safe?'."
The researchers have previously reported that chronic e-cigarette use causes a spike in nerve activity which increases adrenaline directed to the heart and hinders how the body removes toxins from oxygen.
Both are risk factors for a heart attack.
In the new study Dr Middlekauff and her team looked at 33 healthy adults who were not e-cigarette users or smokers.
On different days each person used a vaping device with either nicotine or no nicotine.
They then tested their heart rate and oxidative stress - the inability of the body to counteract free radicals - using a blood test.
They found exposure to e-cigarettes with nicotine led to increased adrenaline levels to the heart, indicated by an abnormal heart rate.
But oxidative stress, which increases risks for atherosclerosis and heart attack, showed no changes after exposure to e-cigarettes with and without nicotine.
"While it's reassuring that the non-nicotine components do not have an obvious effect on adrenaline levels to the heart, these findings challenge the concept that inhaled nicotine is benign, or safe," Dr Middlekauff said.
"Our study showed that acute electronic cigarette use with nicotine increases cardiac adrenaline levels.
"And it's in the same pattern that is associated with increased cardiac risk in patients who have known cardiac disease, and even in patients without known cardiac disease.
"I think that just seeing this pattern at all is very concerning and it would hopefully discourage nonsmokers from taking up electronic cigarettes."
Meanwhile, bosses ‘should let staff VAPE in the office in bid to encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes and help slash smoking rates’.
And, this is how swapping your fags for e-cigarettes could ‘prevent you and your kids getting meningitis’.