Vaping helps smokers quit – even if they don’t want to, study finds
- Some 17% of e-cigarette users used to enjoy smoking and did not want to quit
- Researcher claims they tried vaping ‘on a whim’ or after being offered an e-cig
- Such vapers went on to enjoy the habit and saw it as a ‘substitute for smoking’
- Around 2.9 million people in the UK and 15% of adults in the US use e-cigarettes
- Although considered healthier then smoking, vaping has been linked to asthma
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Vaping helps smokers quit – even if they do not want to, new research suggests.
Some 17 per cent of e-cigarette users once enjoyed smoking and had no intention of quitting, a study found today.
Lead author Dr Caitlin Notley, from the University of East Anglia, said: ‘They hadn’t intended to quit smoking and had tried vaping on a whim, or because they had been offered it by friends.
‘They went on to like it and only then saw it as a potential substitute for smoking.’
Around 2.9 million people vape in the UK, while 15 percent of adults use e-cigarettes in the US.
Although considered a healthier alternative to smoking, vaping has been linked to heart attacks and asthma.
Vaping helps smokers quit – even if they do not want to, new research suggests (stock)
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‘Vaping supports long-term smoking abstinence’
The researchers interviewed 40 vapers, who were asked how long they used e-cigarettes, their favourite flavours and why they took up the habit, as well as about their previous attempts to quit smoking.
Dr Notley said: ‘We found that vaping may support long-term smoking abstinence.
‘Not only does it substitute many of the physical, psychological, social and cultural elements of cigarette smoking, but it is pleasurable in its own right, as well as convenient and cheaper than smoking.
‘Our study group also felt better in themselves – they noticed better respiratory function, taste and smell.
‘But the really interesting thing we found was that vaping may also encourage people who don’t even want to stop smoking, to eventually quit.’
Results further suggest that although most vapers ditch cigarettes for good, some still occasionally indulge due to ‘social or emotional reasons’.
Some 17 per cent of e-cigarette users enjoyed smoking and had no intention of quitting (stock)
‘E-cigarettes are far safer than tobacco’
Alison Cox, director of cancer prevention at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, added: ‘The evidence so far shows that e-cigarettes are far safer than tobacco.
‘E-cigarettes do still contain nicotine which is addictive, but it’s not responsible for the major harms of smoking. This is why they have great potential as an aid to help people quit smoking for good.
‘It’s great to see this early indication that e-cigarettes could encourage smokers who weren’t originally thinking of quitting to give up.
‘But more research is needed to understand exactly how e-cigarettes are being used by people who don’t want to stop smoking and how often this results in quitting.’
What is an e-cigarette and how is it different to smoking tobacco?
An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is a device that allows users to inhale nicotine by heating a vapour from a solution that contain nicotine, propylene and flavourings.
As there is no burning involved, there is no smoke like a traditional cigarette.
But while they have been branded as carrying a lower risk than cigarettes, an increasing swell of studies is showing health dangers.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, but the vapor does contain some harmful chemicals.
Nicotine is the highly addictive chemical which makes it difficult for smokers to quit.
Nearly three million people in Britain use e-cigarettes, and more than nine million Americans.
TYPES:
1. Standard e-cigarette
Battery-powered device containing nicotine e-liquid.
It vaporizes flavored nicotine liquid.
2. Juul
Very similar to normal e-cigarettes but with sleeker design and a higher concentration of nicotine.
Thanks to its ‘nicotine salts’, manufacturers claim one pod delivers the amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.
It is composed of an e-cigarette (battery and temperature control), and a pod of e-liquid which is inserted at the end.
The liquid contains nicotine, chemicals and flavorings.
Like other vaping devices, it vaporizes the e-liquid.
3. IQOS by Philip Morris
Pen-shaped, charged like an iPod.
Vaporizes tobacco.
It is known as a ‘heat not burn’ smokeless device, heating tobacco but not burning it (at 350C compared to 600C as normal cigarettes do).
The company claims this method lowers users’ exposure to carcinogen from burning tobacco.
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