Electronic cigarettes are often marketed as a gentler alternative to regular cigarettes.
But a new study shows that electronic puffing can have the same negative consequences on blood vessels, lungs and heart as tobacco smoking.
In the study, conducted by researchers at Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm, the researchers allowed healthy young people to smoke e-cigarettes with or without nicotine for a short period. Before and after smoking, the people’s blood values and the circulation in their capillaries, the body’s smallest vessels, were studied.
Shortly after, an increased blood clot formation and impaired circulation was seen in the capillaries of the people who smoked e-cigarettes with nicotine in them.
“Just those two factors have long been known to be able to contribute to atherosclerosis in blood vessels and heart attacks and strokes. We see similar consequences of e-cigarettes on blood vessels, lungs and heart as from regular tobacco smoking,” says Magnus Lundbäck, research leader and specialist in cardiology at Danderyd Hospital, in a comment.
Blood and vessels in those who smoked nicotine-free e-cigarettes were not significantly affected.
“What emerges with increasing clarity in this and previous studies is that nicotine is a more toxic substance than is generally known,” says Magnus Lundbäck.
The same research group has previously shown several negative effects such as the consequences of e-cigarette smoking, including that the airways become narrower, something that can lead to carbon as you get older.
The study was published in the medical journal Cardiovacular Toxicology on August 7.