Physicians News Health news for doctors and patients.
Regular use of electronic cigarettes may help users of traditional cigarettes kick the habit. The tobacco habit, that is.
According to a new study from the Center for Survey Research, smokers who used electronic cigarettes every day for one month (intensive users) were six times more likely to stop smoking combustable cigarettes, as compared to smokers who had never used e-cigs.
“This study provides strong support for the potential harm-reducing value of electronic cigarettes, which allow smokers to get the nicotine they want without exposing themselves to the 4,000 toxic chemicals in tobacco cigarettes,” said lead author Lois Biener, PhD, University of Massachusetts.
Researchers wanted to learn if there was an association between use of e-cigarettes and motivation to quit smoking traditional cigarettes. They followed up on 695 participants who used e-cigs over a three year period and found that 13 percent of users — all in the ‘intensive use’ category — had quit smoking entirely.
Intermittent users (people who used e-cigarettes regularly but not daily) and non-users/triers (those who used e-cigarettes at most once or twice) did not see any benefit from, or smoking cessation success, using e-cigs.
“Policy makers need to think carefully before enacting any laws that make adult smokers less likely to try these products,” such as taxing e-cigarettes as heavily as tobacco or eliminating flavors, Biener said.
But it is more likely that further regulation of electronic cigarettes will occur as more health studies show negative effects of nicotine addiction resulting from use of e-cigs.
Wasim Maziak, M.D., professor at Florida International University, recently said that proponents of e-cigarettes “need to move from wishful thinking to protecting the health of people based on clear and comprehensive evidence.”The manufacture and marketing of a highly addictive product such as e-cigarettes has one primary goal: to hook as many people as possible on it.”
“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in nature,” said Maziak in the Orlando Sentinel. “It produces stronger dependence than heroin or cocaine — and has lifelong psychological, social, economic and health consequences.”
Other recent studies have found that the vapor, in particular, emanating from electronic cigarettes may be harmful to users.
“The vapors contained diethylene glycol (antifreeze), tobacco-specific nitrosamines (a cancer-causing byproduct) and other contaminants found in tobacco may be harmful to humans,” according to Dr. Smita Desai, Kaiser Permanente pulmonary and critical care group, San Diego. “Tobacco smokers with chronic lung conditions who consider switching to e-cigarettes to improve their lung health should know that a small study on healthy smokers showed that inhaling e-cigarette vapor for five minutes causes brief, reversible decreases in airflow and increases in airway resistance.”
-Alan Lyndon
(Photo courtesy of www.ecigclick.co.uk via Creative Commons)
I started vaping 6 weeks ago. The day I started my cigs went from 10 packs a week to 2 and are not increasing. When my devices, liquids and habits are sorted out I’ll cut loose from the last few daily cigs just for the bragging rights.
I wish ecigs had been around when I was a kid. I probably would have played with them on 0 nic for a while and lost interest. If I noticed a kid smoking today I’d say, get an ecig dumbass, they are cooler and more enjoyable (and you’ll get more girls).
People like me who want to use vapor technology are going to win this fight because we have even more to lose than the government.
I’m amazed that people that are so highly trained have such problems with reading comprehension. For example, the FDA found a minute amount of diethylene glycol (DEG) in the liquid of one cartridge, but not in vapor. Since DEG requires higher temperatures to vaporize, it’s unlikely e-cigarette consumers would ever be exposed to any DEG. And while cigarette smoking produces strong dependence, there are no studies showing that nicotine in a clean form (e.g., from patches, gum, vapor, etc.) causes any dependence at all. When non-smokers have been given nicotine in studies to verify nicotine’s therapeutic effects on mood, cognition, etc., none of the subjects became addicted. Smokers who switched to e-cigarettes are reporting that it is much easier to stop using vapor than it was to abruptly stop smoking. Thus it is illogical to believe that the goal of e-cigarette makers and marketers is to create new addiction and there is no data to support that belief.
Please view.
Professor Peter Hajek, Director of QMUL’s Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, talks about his research on e-cigarettes.
youtube.com/watch?v=SVS0_BGHHjM&list=PLA6of3BJ9kcxHW1QSJjvScPr1YibW8wXp&index=32
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“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in nature,” said Maziak in the Orlando Sentinel. “It produces stronger dependence than heroin or cocaine — and has lifelong psychological, social, economic and health consequences.”
Please read.
Anti-smoking experts paid by Big Pharma
cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/anti-smoking-experts-paid-by-big-pharma/
No such thing as Nicotine addiction.
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“Wasim Maziak, M.D., professor at Florida International University, recently said that proponents of e-cigarettes “need to move from wishful thinking to protecting the health of people based on clear and comprehensive evidence.”The manufacture and marketing of a highly addictive product such as e-cigarettes has one primary goal: to hook as many people as possible on it.””
Contrary to Wasim Maziak’s statement, most people that use vaporizers are former or current smokers that use them as an alternative to combustible tobacco and a way to at least REDUCE the amount of cigarette smoke that they ingest. Combustible cigarette smoke contains tar, thousands of chemicals, and dozens of carcinogens, where vapor emissions have been found to be significantly less toxic. Most users that stick with them notice significant respiratory improvement over time. I, myself, am one of those users.
I think a realistic perspective is needed regarding vaporizers. I am surprised that any health care professional would be so naive as to think that discouraging current smokers from using them would benefit overall public health. These smokers will only continue smoking, give them something better, safer, cheaper, cleaner.
The only reason that anyone would be opposed to them I think likely results from financial ties to one of the three major institutions losing millions of dollars due to the rapid adoption of vaporizers into the marketplace. Here’s a challenge; see if YOU can figure out who those three entities are?