Vaping and traditional cigarettes: both damage the lungs, study finds

A new study found that the use of high-concentration vapors causes the same toxic lung cell damage as traditional cigarettes.

The researchers say the study suggests that new electronic nicotine delivery devices might not be a safer substitute for smoking.

However, New Zealand experts criticized the study, saying its methods were flawed and contradicted other studies showing that vaping was 95% less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

The University of Technology Sydney research published in the ERJ Open Research – tested the effects of novel steamed tobacco devices and traditional cigarettes on two types of cells taken from human airways – epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells.

In healthy lungs, epithelial cells provide the first line of defense against foreign particles entering the airways, while smooth muscle cells maintain the structure of the airways.

However, smoking can cause breathing difficulties mainly by hindering the normal functioning of these cells.

Dr. Pawan Sharma, who led the study, said that cigarette smoke and heated tobacco vapors were very toxic to cells at lower and higher concentrations.

The vapors of electronic cigarettes showed toxicity mainly at higher concentrations, he said.

New heated tobacco devices, recently introduced in New Zealand, heated tobacco leaves at high temperatures without producing smoke.

While e-cigarettes (or vaping) just sprayed nicotine into tobacco. Generally, people who are trying to quit smoking slowly reduce nicotine levels until they simply inhale the fumes.

Sharma said that all the concentrations tested in the study accounted for the levels of nicotine found in chronic smokers.

"What's clear is that new products are by no means less toxic to cells than conventional cigarettes or e-cigarettes," Sharma said.

The researcher said the long-term impacts of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco are still unknown, but damage to both types of cells could destroy lung tissue.

"This leads to life-threatening diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and pneumonia, and may increase the risk of developing asthma, so we should not badume that these devices are a more option. sure, "said Sharma.

Sharma said he hoped this study would stimulate more research on heated tobacco and vaping – and he intends to continue this work by studying the effects of nicotine devices on more sophisticated models. of lung tissue and mouse.

Ben Youdan, Action Policy Analyst on Tobacco and Health, has Herald There were a lot of limitations to this research, one being that it had been conducted in a lab rather than looking at the "real world impacts".

"Numerous studies conducted in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom have shown an improvement in lung function and respiratory health through the pbadage of smoked tobacco to these devices for manufacturing steamed tobacco and heated tobacco. "

Youdan said that the effects of the electronic cigarette on the lungs also depended on how people took their dose and the basic function of their lungs before switching from smoking to steaming or to other devices.

"In the end, e-cigarettes are not risk-free, but many studies based on solid evidence show that they are 95% less harmful … in terms of the impact on the airways, the heart and the toxicity of the steam, "said Mr. Youdan. .