Is vaping bad for you? – Women's health

IDK about you, but it seems that there are more e-cigarettes on the street now, ordinary cigarettes.

Hell, you perhaps even one of the 3.2% of the US population (and more than two million teenagers) following the vape train, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this represents a lot of epidemics right now. The agency issued a statement earlier this month, claiming that she "would not tolerate that a whole generation of young people become addicted to nicotine" – she even published more than 1,000 letters from her family. Warning to stores for sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. Damn.

So, yes, it seems that vaping could be problematic, but how bad is it?

Well, what's that vaping, anyway?

"Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid that usually contains nicotine, producing steam," says Tanya Elliott, MD, an allergist and internist.

Spray is what you do when you inhale this vapor. The habit is also sometimes called Juuling; Juul is a specific brand of electronic cigarette.

Even though some e-cigs may look like traditional cigarettes (other devices look like thin flash drives or fancy pens), vaping is not the same as smoking. While electronic cigarettes heat liquids, says Elliott, they do not burn. This is an important distinction because it means that users are not exposed to tars, oxidizing gases, carbon monoxide and other toxins found in conventional cigarettes.

Does this mean that vaping is healthier than smoking?

Not quite, Elliott says. "Most electronic cigarettes make contain a number of potentially toxic chemicals, such as propylene glycol or glycerol, "she adds, adding that at high temperatures these substances can be converted to propylene oxide, which is suspected to be carcinogenic in humans. 'man.

A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine combined data from two national surveys of nearly 70,000 people in 2014 and 2016 and found that the daily use of electronic cigarettes could double the risk of heart attack. The long-term effects of e-cigs on heart health and cancer risk are not yet known, but that's because they have not been long enough to be studied for a long time. significant period.

Then there is the nicotine factor to consider. "Most vapers still use them in their devices, and others, like Juul for example, do not even offer non-nicotine options," says Ana María Rule, Ph. D., author and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public. Health.

Nicotine is addictive and is generally considered detrimental to overall health, says the rule. The Surgeon General even wrote a whole chapter on the effects of nicotine in a 2014 report titled The health consequences of smoking – 50 years of progress, citing its negative effects on reproductive health, cardiovascular disease and even immune function.

Keep in mind that vaping is still relatively new and that adverse health effects can "take many years to manifest," says Rule.

Well, can not vaping help smokers quit?

One of the "benefits" claimed by users of electronic cigarettes is that they can help you quit old cigarettes. But it's hard to say if that's the smartest way to get rid of one's habits.

According to the rule, studies in support of this are inconclusive. "It works for some people, but most people end up being" double "users, she says, which means that they use both cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

So, what are the guidelines on the use of the electronic cigarette right now?

Basically, no one under the age of 18 can buy devices that deliver nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes. Yet that does not mean that it never happens.

"Part of the problem is that e-cigarettes can be purchased over the Internet and that kids are very savvy and can easily bypass controls," says Rule.

In 2016, the FDA went even further and finalized a rule to extend its regulatory authority over cigarettes to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. This decision also meant putting a warning sticker on nicotine addiction on all tobacco and electronic cigarette packages and advertisements starting in 2018.

The bottom line: The use of the electronic cigarette is still extremely recent – and although it is slightly less dangerous than smoking, it remains clearly dangerous. So yes, it's pretty bad for you.