Study suggests vaping can harm the heart, but it’s far from proven
STAR-ADVERTISER / MAY 2013
James Yoon who has been vaping for about a year and was a smoker for 34 years, enjoys the atmosphere along with (L-R) Sidney Tolbert and Daniel Clifton at the Volcano Vapor Lounge on Thursday in Kapahulu.
Chemicals in e-cigarette vapor produce short-term signs of potential cardiovascular harm, according to a recently published study that opens up a new front in the vaping debate.
The signs of harm were similar to but lesser than those induced by smoking, according to the study. It compared the effects of smoking and vaping with the same nicotine content on the blood vessels of volunteer subjects. However, the study didn’t find evidence of actual damage.
Researchers examined a number of markers, including those of oxidative stress, vitamin E levels and nitric oxide bioavailability. They also performed flow-mediated dilatation, or FMD, which determines the ability of blood vessels to expand to convey more blood.
“Our study demonstrates that both cigarettes (and e-cigarettes) have unfavorable effects on markers of oxidative stress and FMD after single use, although e-cigarettes appeared to have a lesser impact,” the study stated. “Future studies are warranted to clarify the chronic vascular effects of E-cigarette smoking.”
The study was conducted in 40 healthy men and women; 20 of them smokers and 20 nonsmokers. It was published in the journal Chest by a team led by Roberto Carnevale of Sapienza University of Rome in Rome, Italy.
So what does that mean for vapers?
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Those who support e-cigarettes as a tobacco alternative say the study doesn’t actually demonstrate any danger, especially compared to smoking.
And since e-cigarette use produced a lesser impact, it can be argued that the study supports the use of e-cigarettes over combustible cigarettes as a means of harm reduction. E-cigarettes don’t need to be harmless, just less harmful than cigarettes to be a better alternative for smokers who still crave nicotine.
E-cigarette skeptics say the study provides a big red flag of a new danger from e-cigarettes.
They say the signs of potential cardiovascular damage point to a new factor not sufficiently considered by e-cigarette advocates. Since e-cigarettes became popular scarcely a decade ago, more such unpleasant surprises could be in the offing. For example, some of the flavoring agents used in e-cigarettes haven’t been well-studied for their effects when inhaled.
Trying to reconcile these views with agreed-upon facts — and how to interpret facts even when both sides agree on them — is difficult.
Vaping research is extremely polarized, with researchers lining up on predictable sides. This makes it hard to get informative exchanges of ideas. It also makes it easy for advocates and reporters to lapse into cherry-picking which researchers they find credible.
So let’s get some contrasting perspectives.
Dr. Wael Al-Delaimy of the University of California, San Diego, a vaping skeptic, said the study was “carefully conducted” by the researchers.
“They showed that e-cigarettes basically had the same detrimental negative impact on vascular and endothelial health as that of combustion cigarettes showing the increase in the markers of oxidative stress,” Al-Delaimy wrote by email.
“There were a couple of markers that did not go up with e-cigarettes as much as after cigarette smoking, but that does not reassure us about the long term impact of e-cigarettes on vascular health.
“I am rather concerned by the claims of many proponents of vaping that e-cigarettes are harmless and that the vapor it produces has no negative health impact before they actually verify this through human studies such as this recently published one.
“We have always cautioned against supporting such products without evidence about its safety to the users, and now more evidence is emerging demonstrating potential risks to public health in support of our advice about not blindly supporting e-cigarettes.
“The longer the people use these products the more evidence will emerge on how they might influence health. We therefore should not prompt them until we know all the risks associated with them to better inform the public about such risks for current and future users.”
In short, better safe than sorry, Al-Delaimy is saying.
Vaping advocate Clive Bates, a U.K.-based public health commentator, said the study should have compared the markers with those found in coffee.
Similar signs of possible cardiovascular damage were linked to consumption of coffee with caffeine in a 2005 study, Bates wrote in a comment on the Chest study.
“A comparison with coffee would have made a worthwhile additional arm to this study and may have helped with interpreting whether there is a material risk of harm,” Bates wrote. “If the effects are similar to those experienced by coffee drinkers, that might have provided valuable reassurance for smokers making an informed choice about quitting smoking by switching to e-cigarettes.”
Bates also said it’s worth exploring if the observed effects of e-cigarette use on vascular function are caused by nicotine.
“However, that would also be reassuring to e-cigarette users,” he wrote. “Nicotine has well-documented effects on the body but these effects have not been found to be a significant cause of the diseases attributed to smoking, including cardiovascular disease.”
Finally, Bates said exaggerating the dangers of e-cigarettes also causes harm.
“Overstating the risks of e-cigarettes is logically and ethically equivalent to understating the risks of tobacco smoking,” Bates says. “The latter was the practice of tobacco companies 30 years ago and it is essential to challenge the former in today’s public health discourse.”
14 responses to “Study suggests vaping can harm the heart, but it’s far from proven”
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Of course it does! Inhaling too much of any foreign substance will cause problems over time!
Oh puhleeze. One unverified study does not result in facts. Vaping is far too new to know the long term effects, if any.
What we have are a bunch of “Legend in their mind bureaucrats” who just want to get their name in the news. Understand their study, like so many, could easily be slammed to the ground by a truly professional, long term study done by real experts.
Perfect “Fish Wrapper” material to line the bottom of cat litter boxes.
Right and because there is so little longitudinal evidence as to safety, I really don’t want any more teenagers walking around with ecigs.
I agree!
It all depends on the solution used for vaping. Some are just water with aroma while others contain mixtures similar to what is in tobacco.
Responsibility of the person vaping to make the right choice for them.
There is little doubt that ecigs are less harmful than smoking cigarettes. As the article stated, they don’t have to be completely harmless, just better for you than real cigarettes to be useful to long term smokers.
The best solution is to educate and discourage addiction to nicotine in the first place while providing less harmful smoking alternatives to those already addicted.
Was this study sponsored by the tobacco industry or what? If we are looking to scare people from the use of ecigs then we are barking up the wrong tree because the alternative is much, much worse. Cigarettes do a lot of damage on their own on the heart. This damage is so serious that doctors encourage smokers with heart problem to kick the habit. Yes, ecigs may harm the heart but compared to the damage that a cigarette can do not only to the heart but the whole body it seems to be the only option for many addicted to nicotine and it and the ritual of smoking. Instead of spending so much resources on trying to find all the bad on ecigs we need to spend more on how to help smokers to hit the habit. As of now, those patches and gums do not seems to help smokers as far as my own personal experiences with friends who smoke. It’s easy for us non-smokers to tell others to kick the habit but if you look at it, it is something that is almost impossible to break especially for people who have smoked almost all their lives. It’s like asking others to totally quit eating fast foods (not that that would actually be a good thing. It’s just not going to happen. With all the cigarette taxes being collected, I would be surprised if our bureaucrats actually spend some of that money on research to find ways to actually help smokers quit. Yes, I see all those tv spots to promote smoking cessation. But make sure that they have real tools to help them quit. If patches do not really work, then they really need to find a way to make ecigs safer rather than just “dumping the baby with the bath water”.
What did HMSA decide about not insuring smokers? Is this legal? Or is it discriminatory?
Because of the ACA, HMSA (or any other health plan) cannot exclude smokers from being covered by a health plan. But the ACA allows either HMSA or your employer to increase the premiums for smokers as a penalty for being higher risk
All thisstudyappears to be saying is that nicotine, the addictive, psychoactive substance in tobacco products affects the heart. We know that already.
I would expect the same findings in nicotine gum and nicotine patches.
In short, stuff with nicotine in it has the effects of nicotine. But nicotine doesn’t cause cancer, it just gets you addicted to the tobacco that contains all the cancer causing stuff. Vaping must have big tobacco scared senseless.
The big question is, does vapi get cause cancer and lung disease like smoking tobacco does? I’d like to see a study that tells us that instead of a study that tells us that nicotine acts just like nicotine.
They got their picture in the newspaper – congratulations!
As a SA reader, I feel that this article is only speculation and should be printed in the E N Q U I R E R M A G A Z I N E….I want to read fact and news, not speculation.
In all fairness, I have never smoked nor had the desire to. If someone wants to smoke or use e-cigs, then that is their right. But I’m always amused when I’m driving behind someone using one of those new e-cigs. The amount of smoke or vapor coming out of their car sometimes looks like something from a comedy or movie. How can they see with all that smoke?
you gotta to smoke, until you croak, then paaaarty! spend lots of money for smoking and leave nothing for your kids. auwe!