Vaping could be more dangerous for your health than smoking, increasing the risk of dementia, heart disease and organ failure, according to a major new study. Dr Maxime Boidin, who lead theworld’s first controlled study into vaping’s long-term effects atManchesterMetropolitan University, said the health threat to vapers is worse than smoking.
He said: “Smokers tend to go outside and smoke, and once a cigarette is finished they have to light up another to keep going. But with vapes, you just keep going and it’s much harder to know how many puffs you’ve had. It’s much easier to vape continuously because you can do it in places where smoking might be less acceptable.”
He added: “What we have found is the dangers for someone who keeps vaping are no different from smokers. At the beginning (of the study) I also believed that vaping was more beneficial than smoking. You see a lot more people vaping these days because they don’t think it’s too bad. Many will be horrified to know the truth.”
The study saw participants given regular stress tests to measure the elasticity of their blood vessels and the speed of blood flow to their brains. For 12 hours prior to testing, they consumed only water and didn’t vape, smoke or exercise, reports The Mirror.
Smokers and vapers both showed signs of damaged artery walls that can no longer dilate – an almost certain sign of future serious cardiovascular problems. Further tests proved that the blood flow in smokers and vapers is impaired, putting them at risk of developing cognitive dysfunction, including dementia.
Dr Boidin, senior lecturer in cardiac rehabilitation, believes the damage is due to inflammation caused by nicotine and the metals and chemicals found in vapes, which include propylene glycol. Substances in the chemical flavourings such as carbonyl are known to cause inflammation and oxidative stress, which can lead to artery inner wall damage and cell death.
Dr Boidin said : “When you put this mixture of metals and chemicals into your body you can’t expect nothing to happen.”
There are now 5.1million people aged 16 or over in Britain who use vapes, according to figures last year from the Office for National Statistics. One million of those were never regular smokers.
One of the study volunteers Adam Petrulevic, 25, said he vapes “without stopping”. He said: “I never really smoked, but I started vaping two years ago. I always thought it was much less harmful than smoking.
“I take a puff every few minutes and only stop when I go to sleep. A 500-puff vape used to last me a few days but now it’s not even a day. Now I’m on 3,500-puff vapes which should be more than a week, but I finish them in three days.”
Marine, 33, started vaping three years ago to wean herself off smoking and uses a heated tobacco device. She says: “I didn’t smoke in the house but now I vape all day long. I decided to take part in the study because I wanted to know what it was doing to me. I’ve noticed that I’m out of breath more, I feel that it’s not so good for my health.”
Adam said of the study results: “It’s definitely an incentive for me to stop.” Marine said: “I’m going to quit. I never expected vapes to be as bad as cigarettes.”
Dr Boidin says all vapes should only be available on prescription in Britain, to avoid a “health emergency.” He said: “The only benefit of vaping is to help people quit smoking, but if they keep vaping the result is going to be the same. I think doctors should be able to prescribe vapes for a certain time, so they could be used as a transition tool, but only for a short time.
“We now know the long-term effects of vaping, and if we don’t act now we will see a health emergency in the next ten, 15 years.” But Dr Marina Murphy, scientific spokesperson for the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: “Millions of people have been using vaping products safely for many years. All the available data suggests that vapes are unlikely to exceed 5% of the health risks associated with cigarettes.”