How do electronic cigarettes affect human health?

People who smoke are well aware of how much damage they do to their health. That is why many of them try in every possible way to get rid of their addiction.

One popular method of quitting smoking is considered to be the transition to electronic cigarettes, of which there are many varieties. When a person inhales an “electronic”, it activates the airflow sensor and heating element, which vaporizes the liquid containing nicotine.

It is believed that inhaling this vapor is less harmful to the body because it does not contain the tar and other substances contained in conventional cigarettes. People believe that by gradually reducing the dose, you can get rid of the bad habit. However, practice shows that the new technology does not provide any help in quitting cigarettes, even on the contrary – it begins to be used even by people who never smoked before. No one doubts that even electronic cigarettes are very harmful to health. But what exactly are the substances that have a devastating effect on the body?

Electronic cigarettes have become very popular only in the last 5 years. But this time was enough for manufacturers to develop several types of devices. There are designs in the form of regular cigarettes with a minimum charge and a supply of nicotine liquid, cigars, pipes and so on. But today, “mechmods” with large batteries and large liquid reservoirs are very popular. Also, at almost every step you can find disposable Pod-systems with different flavors.

In short, e-cigarettes differ in battery capacity, refillability, flavors, amount of nicotine, and so on. We can talk about the types of “vapes” for a long time, but for the purposes of this article we are not interested – we are talking about what harm they do to the body.

The very design of an electronic cigarette and the electronics included in it can not harm a person. Unless it can be defective and explode – yes, such stories already exist.

Slow and significant damage to the body is caused by the liquid in cigarettes, which enters the body in the form of vapor. It consists of nicotine, solvents like propylene glycol or glycerin, a variety of flavorings, and 10-20% water. But researchers have found volatile organic compounds, nitrosamines and heavy metals in some formulations. These are the ones that are of great concern to society because in some cases they irritate mucous membranes, damage the liver, the nervous system, and so on.

But solvents, which represent 80-97% of all liquids, are not so harmless either. When heated, they are believed to disintegrate into other chemical compounds, among which are poisonous ones like propylene, a known cancer-causing agent. Acrolein has also been observed to cause respiratory disease and cardiovascular problems.

Harmful substances have also been found in flavors, of which there are up to 15,000 kinds. Thus, in tobacco stores can be found with cigarettes flavored with menthol, nuts, fruit, bakery products and so on. Scientists have found that after heating, flavorings can break down into the dangerous and bronchitis-inducing diacetyl, the necrosis-inducing benzaldehyde and the inflammation-causing cinnamon aldehyde.

Californian scientists recently decided to test how liquids in mint and mango flavors affect the bodies of laboratory mice. The animals were kept on e-cigarette vapor three times a day for three months. It turned out that the vapor caused inflammation in an area of the brain that is responsible for motivation and reward processing. Scientists believe that this effect can lead to the development of anxiety, depression, and addiction. The most harmful of all was the taste of mint, so the scientists decided that they need to study every flavor of e-cigarettes. The only thing is that it is almost impossible to do this – there are currently up to 15,000 flavors of e-cigarettes.

Also, scientists know that the nicotine in vape liquids is absorbed much faster than that found in regular cigarettes. On top of that, because e-cigarettes are constantly at hand and can often be smoked right at home, people inhale potentially harmful substances all day long, with virtually no long breaks.

As you can understand from everything written above, smoking electronic cigarettes is far from a harmless habit. They do not help to get rid of nicotine addiction and even the opposite, contribute to the development of addiction in people who have not smoked before. The substances in “vapes” are harmful to health, and it is not clear how terrible the consequences of smoking can be in the long run.