Researchers from Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Greece, led by Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos, recruited 108 healthy subjects (51 smokers and 57 electronic cigarette users).

Smoking 2 tobacco cigarettes caused significant stiffening of the aorta; all measured parameters showed a 17-22% worsening of elastic properties. On the contrary, both in smokers and electronic cigarette users, no difference was observed after electronic cigarette use.

A new study has been recently published in the journal Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment. The study (which can be downloaded with free access) retrospectively evaluated how e-cigarettes were used by a group of vapers who had achieved complete smoking abstinence for at least one month with the use of an e-cigarette.

Most of the participants were previously heavy smokers (> 20 cigarettes per day) and were smoking for a median period of 18 years.More than 80% of participants used > 16mg/ml nicotine concentration liquids in order to quit smoking...and only 4.5% were using non-nicotine liquids.

The majority of the participants reported significant perceived benefits from switching to e-cigarette use, mainly in physical endurance and olfactory and gustatory senses improvement. Side effects were mild and mostly temporary, with none of the vapers needing medical attention or treatment. Finally, they reported reduced addiction to e-cigarettes compared to tobacco cigarettes.

Tobacco smoking has been reported to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, particularly of the lungs.

Nicotine is the substance giving the subjective pleasure of smoking as well as inducing addiction. For the first time we report the effect on the rat of long-term (two years) inhalation of nicotine.

Nicotine was given for 20 h a day, five days a week during a two-year period. We could not find any increase in mortality, in atherosclerosis or frequency of tumors in these rats compared with controls. Particularly, there was no microscopic or macroscopic lung tumors...

Many health benefits are reported by e-cigarette users, according to a study published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The study was a worldwide survey, with a questionnaire available in 10 different languages, to assess the experience, patterns of use, side effect and benefits observed by e-cigarette consumers.In total, 19,441 vapers participated to the study. More than 80% had completely substituted smoking with e-cigarette use, while the rest reduced smoking consumption from 20 to 4 tobacco cigarettes per day.

More than half reported side-effects; they were mild and temporary in most cases, with the most common symptom being dry mouth and throat. Importantly, significant benefits were reported for physiologic functions (such as better breathing, gustatory and olfactory senses), as well as improvements in pre-existing disease conditions (mainly respiratory disease, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia).

The study found that those who completely substituted smoking were more likely to experience health benefits compared to dual users.

More coming soon