Your vaping habits could kill you!
Wow, sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? It’s the sort of warning you’d expect on a cigarette pack. But with vapes, you avoid most of the toxicity, right? That’s why vapes have become so popular: they’re supposed to be the “healthier” alternative to cigarettes.
I hate to burst your bubble, but vaping is only slightly healthier than cigarettes. Yes, there is no thick, toxic smoke being inhaled into your lungs, only just water vapor. There is no tar in your tobacco, so a lower risk of lung, throat, and mouth cancer. However, the effects of nicotine (addiction, high blood pressure, blood vessel damage, etc.) remain the same. And now, according to recent research, flavored e-cigs and vapes may be even more harmful than you’d think!
A study found that flavored liquid nicotine had a high presence of toxic chemicals. The study involved an examination of air quality, exposing lung cells to smoke, e-cig vapor, and smoke-free air. Obviously, it was discovered that there were far more airborne toxins in cigarette smoke than in e-cig smoke. However, e-cig smoke was more toxic than smoke-free air. This indicates that there are still toxins in your e-cig.
What’s more, the toxicity of the air increased under two conditions:
- The devices had a higher voltage or power
- Flavored liquid was used
Want to guess which flavor yielded the highest toxins? It’s going to shock you: strawberry. Yes, strawberry is the most toxic of all the flavored e-cigarette liquids.
In past studies, it was discovered that e-cigs actually tended to release more nicotine per hit than cigarettes. This means that e-cigs can be even more addicting than regular cigarettes, courtesy of the nicotine. However, this recent discovery points to a higher presence of toxins in e-cigs and vapes than was previously believed. This may make them even more dangerous, especially if high-voltage devices and flavored liquids are releasing more chemicals into the air—and your lungs.
READ MORE: Rant of the Week: Is Smoking Still Sexy?
And this isn’t the first study to determine that e-cigs and vapes could be more harmful than previously believed. One study looked at the chemical cinnamaldehyde, which is used to create a cinnamon-flavored liquid. More than 50% of cinnamon-flavored liquids had high enough levels of this chemical to do serious damage to the lung cells. But cinnamaldehyade isn’t just limited to cinnamon-flavored liquids. In fact, it’s found in a wide range of e-liquids used for both e-cigarettes and vapes.
Once again, the higher-voltage vapes and e-cigs proved to produce the highest levels of toxicity. Yet another indication of the potential dangers of vaping.
Make no mistake: flavored e-cigs and vapes are significantly less harmful than cigarettes. If you have to smoke, you’re smart to make the transition to electronic devices. That way, you have better control over your nicotine intake, and you reduce the risk of tar and other terrible toxins. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that e-cigs or vapes are as safe as claimed. They may not be as harmful as cigarettes—but it’s only the lesser of two evils.
If you truly want to be healthy, perhaps it’s time to start using them for their real purpose: to quit smoking. E-cigs were originally designed as a “stop smoking aid”, allowing users to slow taper off nicotine use while still providing them with something to smoke. But they’ve become more popular than regular cigarettes in many parts of the country. Not only are they used for nicotine, but they have become popular among marijuana-smoking communities. But remember: they may be a bit more dangerous than you’d think!
