It’s another reason to stop vaping in the new year.
According to research, vaping, like smoking, has an immediate negative effect on the user’s blood flow — even if the vape does not contain any nicotine.
A study published by the Radiological Society of North America examined what happens to the bodies of smokers, vapers and dual users, and showed that using an e-cigarette decreased “venous oxygen saturation,” meaning the user’s lungs are likely taking in less oxygen — regardless of whether the vape contains nicotine.
The study — which was led by Dr. Marianne Nabbout, a radiology resident at the University of Arkansas, and conducted at the University of Pennsylvania — enlisted 31 “healthy smokers and vapers” ranging in age from 21 to 49 years, examining the blood flow in their brains through what is called a phase-contrast MRI.
Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the study also compared the subjects’ MRI scans to the baseline scans of 10 non-smokers and non-vapers ranging from 21 to 33 years old.
In three sessions, each study participant underwent two MRI exams, one before and one after smoking a tobacco cigarette, e-cigarette with nicotine and e-cigarette without nicotine, or at each visit for the non-smokers, who provided baseline scans.
The study found that like cigarette users, decreased venous oxygen saturation — a decrease in “the amount of oxygen in the blood that returns to the heart after supplying oxygen to the body’s tissues” — was also present in vapers, regardless of whether their vapes contained nicotine.
“Even if there was no nicotine in the e-cigarette, there could be other components that may be harmful,” Nabbout told CNN, adding that this could be why the study saw such a “significant” effect, even in users who just participated in “non-nicotinized electronic cigarette vaping.”
“People mistakenly believe that electronic cigarettes are safer alternatives to tobacco-based cigarettes,” she said, “but this is actually not true.”
Reacting to the new findings, Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, who did not conduct the study, found it intriguing that vapes had an effect regardless of their nicotine content.
“That’s telling us that something in these ingredients are likely causing airway irritation that leads to inflammation,” he told CNN, “and that inflammation spills over to the rest of the body the same way we know particle pollution does.”
“We don’t know a whole lot about the effects of the ingredients of e-cigarettes with regard to effects on our lungs, effects on our blood vessels, and even though there is supposedly less toxins than a regular cigarette, we don’t know the long-term effects of these modalities are,” he told CNN. “Tests like these keep showing there are short-term effects.”
The goal of Nabbout’s study, the lead researcher told CNN, is to help regulators in the United States as they continue to make decisions about which products should remain on the market.
It also aims to hammer home the message that vaping — even nicotine-free vaping — may not be free of harm, as e-cigarette vaping still exposes users to toxic chemicals, even if they contain less than tobacco cigarettes.
“Ultimately, we are relying on science to help guide the regulation of such products in favor of public health,” Nabbout said in the study. “Refraining from smoking and vaping is always recommended.”
