University of California-San Diego (UCSD) researchers recently found that e-cigarettes poison the lungs and weaken the immune system
We have all heard before how detrimental smoking is to our health. Years of research have shown that cigarettes are one of the most dangerous products that humans consume, if not the most dangerous.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that every year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or smoke exposure, and around 8.6 million suffer from serious smoke-related diseases.
With all the attention focused on cigarettes, other products and substitutions have slipped through the cracks. One product in particular is becoming increasingly popular: E-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes use atomizers to create a vapor by heating up artificial juices and flavorings. Because there is no smoke, just vapor, people have assumed that they are safe.
However, new research from Harvard shows that e-cigarettes are linked to lung disease.
The UCSD team tested the effects of e-cig vapors by exposing mice to them for 1 hour a day, 5 days a week for a month.
The results showed the mice that were exposed had 10 percent more inflammation than unexposed mice.
Bacteria exposed to e-cig vapors were much more harmful in mice that were affected with pneumonia.
“We don’t know specifically which lung and systemic diseases will be caused by the inflammatory changes induced by e-cigarette vapor inhalation, but based on clinical reports of acute toxicities and what we have found in the lab, we believe that they will cause disease in the end,” Crotty Alexander said. “Some of the changes we have found in mice are also found in the airways and blood of conventional cigarette smokers, while others are found in humans with cancer or inflammatory lung diseases.”
The study showing that e-cigarettes poison the lungs and weaken the immune system was published in the Journal of Molecular Medicine.
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REFERENCES:
1. “Chemical Flavorings Found in E-cigarettes Linked to Lung Disease.” Harvard Gazette. Harvard Gazette, n.d. Web. 31 Dec. 2015.
2. “Flavoring Chemicals in E-Cigarettes: Diacetyl, 2,3-Pentanedione, and Acetoin in a Sample of 51 Products, Including Fruit-, Candy-, and Cocktail-Flavored E-Cigarettes.” EHP. EHP, n.d. Web. 31 Dec. 2015.
3. “E-cigarettes ‘poison the Airways and Weaken the Immune System’” Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.
4. “Electronic Cigarette Inhalation Alters Innate Immunity and Airway Cytokines While Increasing the Virulence of Colonizing Bacteria.” Springer Link. Journal of Molecular Medicine, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.
5. “E-cigarette Vapor Boosts Superbugs and Dampens Immune System.” EurekAlert! University Of California – San Diego, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.
