Study e-cigarette similar to nicotine patches

Controversial e-cigarette: healthy and harmless?

09/08/2013

According to a study, electronic cigarettes could help smokers quit. Often e-cigarettes are advertised as healthier and as harmless as a nicotine patch. At the moment, too little is known about the consequences of steam inhalation.

Smoking is only simulated
There is a lack of clarity about the health risks of e-cigarettes. On the one hand, cancer researchers warn that the risks of the battery-powered glow sticks available since 2006 have been insufficiently researched. On the other hand, some experts believe that e-cigarettes could help smokers quit. Even the policy is not in agreement. The Green Ministry of Health in North Rhine-Westphalia warned against electronic cigarettes until they were banned by Münster judges. The EU Commission, on the other hand, plans to treat the smokeless diode stems such as nicotine patches and gums. Then, from a certain nicotine content, a drug approval would be necessary. Currently, however, they are still available without restriction. The e-cigarette has only something outwardly in common with the conventional glow stick. Smoking is only simulated without burning tobacco. Instead, a liquid based on a solvent is aerosolized. The remedy usually contains nicotine and flavorings.

E-cigarette or nicotine patch
In New Zealand, scientists around physician Christopher Bullen have been trying to find out if smokers are more likely to give up their vices with the help of e-cigarettes. In the trade magazine „The Lancet“ They now presented their comparison of electronic cigarettes and nicotine patches. Above all, it became clear how difficult it can be to give up smoking. For example, 7.3 percent of adult e-cigarette users were abstinent after six months, and only 5.8 percent of those who used nicotine patches. In a control group of placebo smokers whose e-cigarettes did not contain any nicotine, the measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide at 4.1 percent showed that they did not use cigarettes. The study can not prove, because of the statistically insignificant results, that one method would be superior to the other. However, the researchers have found that at least the short-term use of the e-cigarette does not pose serious health risks.

Positive for the health
The study authors at the University of Auckland criticized the lack of data worldwide to compare the methods in a meaningful way. Their results were also hardly usable, partly because of the small number of 657 study participants. Interestingly, however, was the third of the e-cigarette users who used the devices even after six months. The researchers say that even those who did not completely leave the cigarettes smoked less, so it's important to better study this group. Prof. Peter Hajek of the London Queen Mary University raises in an accompanying commentary in the „Lancet“ the question of whether e-cigarettes could not be a permanent substitute for smoked tobacco. If the electronic variant is more restrictive for smokers than tobacco consumption, it could be beneficial for people's health. Then, the EU's plans to treat e-cigarettes like drugs in the future and normal cigarettes will continue to be freely available would be counterproductive.

Little known about consequences
However, the problem remains that little is known about the consequences of steam inhalation. Meanwhile, although it is about ten percent of all smokers who used the battery-powered devices with which all sorts of liquids can be evaporated, whether nicotine or not. But what is inhaled exactly, often lacking the control. Analyzes have shown that the amount of nicotine is sometimes lower and higher than stated. The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) also warns that inhaling may irritate the respiratory tract and cause allergic reactions due to the lack of control of e-cigarettes. Thus, the aerosols contained partially formaldehyde, nickel, chromium or lead and other harmful substances. The DKFZ also does not accept the argument of the proponents that third parties would not be charged. Because the liquid particles would be released during evaporation in the room air and could harm others like conventional cigarette smoke. According to the cancer researchers, e-cigarettes should be treated like normal cigarettes.

smoking is dangerous for your health
It is well known that smoking puts health at risk. One should therefore think that it is not necessary to point out serious illnesses such as smoker's cough or smoker's lung to keep people away. Apparently, however, it often takes drastic measures to reduce tobacco use even further. This week, however, a study by scientists at the University of Stirling, UK, showed how difficult it is to keep young people from smoking. The scientists reported in the journal „Tobacco Control“, that the shock-pictures on cigarette packets planned also in the EU would not cause that eleven to 16-year-olds smoke less, if the photos are printed only on the back of the package.

Entrance to smoking
Special care should also be taken with e-cigarettes, which are sourced from abroad. Some additional substances such as the potency agent tadalafil have been found to be risky for cardiovascular patients. Similarly, the appetite suppressant rimonabant was discovered, which had been taken in the EU because of side effects from the market. Another problem that the electronic smoke variant entails has been shown in Poland. There, in a survey of internet users, 14 percent of respondents said they had been non-smokers before they started consuming e-cigarettes. It is therefore advisable to continue to use conventional methods of smoking cessation. (Ad)