E-Cigarettes Helped 18,000 People in the UK Quit Smoking Last Year

London: E-cigarettes may have helped around 18,000 people in the UK quit smoking, with no evidence of serious side effects associated with their use over the past two years, according to research published on Tuesday<\/p>

Researchers at University College London (UCL) analyzed smoking and the latest data from England - including details of smokers who worked with healthcare professionals to set quit dates for smoking cessation services.<\/p>

While they did not find direct evidence that e-cigarettes prompted more people to decide to try and quit, the team did find that as more people used e-cigarettes, more people also successfully quit smoking.<\/p>

In a separate scientific analysis also published on Tuesday, researchers at Cochrane Reviews found evidence that overall suggests e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking without serious side effects.<\/p>

E-cigarettes, which turn nicotine-infused liquid into vapor, have rapidly grown into a global market, with the "vaping" market estimated at around $7 billion in 2015.<\/p>

Unlike nicotine gum and patches, they mimic the experience of smoking as they are handheld and produce smoke-like vapor.<\/p>

Smoking kills half of those who indulge, plus at least 600,000 non-smokers each year through secondhand smoke. This makes it the world's largest preventable killer, with a projected death toll of one billion by the end of the century, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>

Many public health experts believe e-cigarettes, or vapes, which do not contain tobacco, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but there are some concerns about their long-term safety.<\/p>

Experts estimate that around 2.8 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes, which have become the most popular smoking cessation aid in the country.<\/p>

"England is sometimes singled out for being too positive about e-cigarettes," said Robert West, a professor at UCL's Health Behaviour Research Centre who co-led the study, published in the British Medical Journal. <\/p>

"These data suggest that our relatively relaxed regulation of e-cigarettes may be justified."<\/p>

In a second analysis published by the Cochrane Library, researchers also found that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking but stated that there was not enough robust evidence from the studies - randomized controlled trials - to be certain.<\/p>

The review of studies conducted by the Cochrane team found no serious concerns about using e-cigarettes for up to two years. Among non-serious side effects, throat and mouth discomfort were the most common. - Reuters<\/p>