It’s a new year, which means many people are construction their New Year’s resolutions.
And for many smokers, there’s a whole new way to make quitting that much easier: e-cigarettes.
Many smokers swear by it, but it’s hard to say that it’s actually that much better than cigarettes.
E-cigarettes heat up a liquid called “e-juice,” which contains flavorins, propylene glycol, glycerine, and nicotine, until it becomes a vapor. The vapor is less harsh than smoke to both smokers and non-smokers, and for some, it has helped them quit.
But does it really help? Studies from 2013 show that there’s very little evidence that e-cigarettes actually help smokers quit.
One study of almost 2,000 tobacco smokers found that e-cig use had a high association with “unsuccessful quitter” status, but little to no association with “quitter” status.
Another study found that those who used e-cigs to help quit were much less likely to be tobacco-free seven months later than those who used another method and never tried e-cigs.
Reserachers, on the whole, aren’t convinced. “Although these data suggest that e-cigarettes may be a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes, there are no data regarding the long-term cancer risk associated with low-level exposure to the detected carcinogens,” say study reviewers Bradley Drummond and Donna Upson.”
“Similar to cancer risk, there are no published data describing the long-term lung function or cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes.”
It remains to be seen if e-cigarettes are actually safer. Public Health England reported that they believe vaping to be “95% safer than smoking.” But one thing is for sure, it’s making “quit smoking” a much simpler New Year’s resolution to keep.
