How safe is vaping? It’s very popular at the moment and it seems to be almost as addictive as cigarettes. It isn’t so much helping people to stop as swapping one habit for another, and in the case of youngsters maybe even encouraging them to start with all the enticing flavours and colours, making them seem like the smoking equivalent of alco-pops. Is it actually healthy for us though? Research may suggest otherwise.
Flavourings in e-cigarettes may be particularly harmful to the lungs by triggering inflammation. Even short term use can cause as much or even more damage than actual cigarettes. These intitial findings from the University of Athens indicate that more research is needed to establish the exact effect and toxicity of these vaping cigarettes.
They simulate smoking by dispersing vapour and heating a concoction of chemicals, these chemicals are not currently very well regulated and their toxic effects haven’t been studied. The added flavourings can exacerbate the inflammatory effects. So far the tests have only been done on mice, but as we know, this can quite accurately reflect what is happening in human lungs.
The message here is to be cautious. Often there are no warning signs of lung deterioration until it’s too late. Maybe try other methods of giving up smoking first, inhaling a concoction of chemicals sounds like trouble to me!