Which Is More Harmful: Vapes or Traditional Cigarettes?

preface

E-cigarettes are designed to be an alternative to reducing the harm of cigarettes, but currently there is not enough scientific research to directly compare e-cigarettes and smoking. So we compare the available information about e-cigarettes with the available information about cigarettes, rather than a separate explanation.

Physical differences-What is the real difference between e-cigarettes and cigarettes?

Definition of smoke

Wikipedia defines smoke as "the collection of solid and liquid particles and gases in the air emitted by a substance during combustion or pyrolysis, and the amount of air entrained or mixed into the substance."

Burning a substance greatly changes its chemical composition; smoke consists of visible carbon molecules, molecules from burning substances, and other by-products of combustion. In other words, igniting something on a fire produces many substances, many of which pose an inhalation hazard.

Definition of vapor

According to Wikipedia, vapor "is a substance in the gas phase at temperatures below the critical temperature, which means that vapor can be condensed into a liquid by increasing the pressure without reducing the temperature."

In other words, vaporizing the liquid will change its state, but the vapor will contain the same molecules as its substance in the liquid phase.

Now technically speaking, what we produce when we evaporate is not vapor at all, but an aerosol, defined as "a suspension of fine solid particles or droplets in the air or another gas." When e-cigarette liquid evaporates, it becomes particles suspended in the air and then quickly falls to the ground. Because these particles are liquids rather than solid particles in cigarette smoke, they pose relatively little harm to the lungs and cardiovascular system.

What is the difference between smoke and steam?

Lighting a cigarette produces smoke, while evaporating e-liquids produces vapor (aerosolutes). Aside from their visual similarities, smoke and vapor don't have much in common. They have very different compositions and very different behaviors.

smell

Unlike steam, the smell of smoke lingers in the room for a long time. Smokers may not notice it easily, but smokers and non-smokers can recognize the smell in enclosed rooms for hours after smoking. The vapor cloud may be denser and dissipate more slowly (i.e., it may be visible in the room for longer), but the smell will be more pleasant and disappear faster.

residue

Smoking in a room will eventually stain fabric, walls and furniture. One of the culprits for this is tar, a toxic resin mixture that makes smoking so deadly and is also notorious for soiling everything you come into contact with. Other combustion byproducts, such as carbon monoxide, will work with tar, turning walls yellow.

PG and VG in the vapor may form a thin, fuzzy coating on the glass surface, but it is easy to remove. Over time, it does not turn walls and fabrics yellow, nor does it make furniture look older than it really is.

temperature

When ignited, the temperature of the cigarette is about 1112 F (600 ℃), and when smoked, the temperature rises to 1652 F (900 ℃). When smoke quickly reaches room temperature during inhalation and exhalation (mainstream smoke), the smoke generated on itself (side-stream smoke) increases the surrounding temperature, especially as cigarettes become smaller and smaller. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, vaporized e-liquids will be higher at much lower temperatures, generally no more than 482°F (200 ° C). Exhaled vapor is much cooler and cooler than the surrounding indoor air.

Composition Comparison-E-Cigarette VS Cigarette

Whether you breathe burning smoke into your lungs or into the vapor, there are some serious health problems that can accompany you. In the long run, the impact of smoking on health is more clear and summarized than atomization. Following is a summary of the most common health effects of smoking and smoking that researchers have found.

Cigarettes and their chemicals #p#pagination title #e#

The smoking process involves burning tobacco that contains thousands of chemicals, more than 20 of which are strongly linked to carcinogenicity. We can always cite more than 20 chemicals under a single name "carcinogen." Because it takes a long time to list more than 20 chemical substances. However, here are a few chemicals that we can consider as carcinogens:

Nicotine-an addictive chemical that makes users crave more. When people say they are addicted to smoking, they are addicted to nicotine. Hydrogen cyanide tar formaldehyde lead arsenic ammonia benzene carbon monoxide nitrosamines polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

As mentioned above, many chemicals are strongly linked to certain major health conditions, including: cancer, heart disease and lung disease. You will not find these chemical elements during the process of making cigarettes. The burning of tobacco leaves begins a chemical reaction process, which in turn produces smoke filled with the above-mentioned carcinogens.

E-cigarette atomization and its components

The main process of evaporation eliminates the need to burn any substance and eliminates the few harmless chemicals listed above. Studies of vapor produced through vapor have shown significant differences between the amounts of carcinogens found compared to cigarette smoke. More than 20 chemicals are found in cigarette smoke, but very few are found in vapor. Here are some of the chemicals found in vapor:

Nicotine-an addictive chemical that makes users crave more. When people say they are addicted to smoking, they are addicted to nicotine. Propylene glycol vegetable glycerol acetaldehyde nitrosamines

Most of any other chemicals found are related to the seasoning process. Many of these are food grade and are generally safe to eat. This leads us to ask the biggest questions in areas where research has not yet been done.

Electronic liquid flavors are a potential hazard that has not yet been fully studied. Most flavors are mixtures of many chemical compounds, and it is likely that some of them have a worse impact on lung health than others. Until recently, these flavors were strictly used in products that were consumed rather than inhaled. Therefore, toxicology studies have focused on showing that flavors are safe to consume. In this regard, science about e-cigarettes needs to catch up.

Overall, these flavors are designed to be ingestible and do not evaporate. So far, this has led us into a gray area. The long-term impact is unclear.

Comparison of the health effects of cigarettes and e-cigarettes

Is it harmful to your lungs?

Smoking causes well-known damage to the lungs. Long-term inhalation of burning tobacco can lead to Causes lung and esophageal cancer, and causes multiple fatal lung diseases such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). But what about e-cigarettes?

Cigarette smoke attacks the lungs in several ways. It contains thousands of chemicals, more than 70 of which are known carcinogens. It also contains particulate matter (fine fragments of burning tobacco and paper) that are deposited deep in the lungs and can be buried in tissue. Smoking e-cigarettes does not produce a known amount of carcinogens, but of course there are risks and do not contain solid particles such as smoke.

In fact, there is no such thing as burning tobacco during the atomization process of e-cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes do not burn, there is no tar or carbon monoxide-the other two main dangers of smoking. Atomization uses heat from the coil to convert e-liquids into inhalable aerosol. It looks like smoke, but it's not. That being said, nebulization is not without potential risks to lung health.

There are some concerns about the ingredients in e-liquids: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin and flavors. Although extensive studies of PG inhalation in animals have not posed any risks, there have been no serious human studies of the effects of prolonged inhalation of PG or VG. PG was found to cause slight irritation to the respiratory tract.

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Is it harmful to oral health?

Smoking causes and causes a variety of oral health problems. Of course, it is well known that smokers have a high risk of developing oral cancer, throat cancer and esophageal cancer. But cigarettes can also cause dental and periodontal disease, including gum disease. Cigarette smoke can change the bacteria (microbiome) in the mouth, making existing periodontal disease more serious. There is little information on the medical side effects of e-cigarette atomization on oral health. A recent literature review published in the Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine summarizes the current state of the science and points to "insufficient evidence."

An existing small study suggests that smokers may increase the incidence of nicotine stomatitis (which, oddly, is not caused by nicotine), a disease caused by heat and causing damage in the mouth. This is a secondary condition that usually resolves itself when the heat source (usually piping) is eliminated.# p#pagination title #e#

A small study examined the oral microbiome of 10 smokers, 10 e-cigarette smokers and 10 non-smokers. It was found that the bacterial characteristics of smokers were similar to those of the non-smoking/smoking control group, but the oral bacterial characteristics of e-cigarettes were very different. The researchers concluded that steam does not change the microbiome. Of course, the study was very small and therefore unable to draw broad conclusions.

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Can it cause cancer?

Cancer forms when a toxin destroys or mutates a cell's DNA and causes it to grow uncontrollably. Tumors can remain locally, or the cancer can spread and even move from one organ to another. Most people know that smoking is the cause of lung cancer. Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer, and most (but not all) lung cancer victims are smokers.

Smoking can also cause many other types of cancer because cancer forms not only in areas that come into contact with smoke, but also from smoke byproducts in the blood and organs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body.

Carcinogens have been found in e-cigarette smokers, but their levels indicate a very low risk of cancer. According to a 2017 study in the journal Tobacco Control, the cancer risk of smoking e-cigarettes is comparable to the risk of using drugs such as nicotine patches, and is less than 1 percent of the cancer risk of smoking.

Other researchers have reached similar conclusions. A 2016 study published in the journal Mutation Research tested the effects of e-cigarette vapor and smoke on bacteria to cause cellular mutations. Smoke causes mutations and is also toxic to bacteria, while steam is not mutagenic or toxic.

Nicotine itself (whether found in cigarettes, e-cigarette vapors or other nicotine products) has not been shown to cause cancer. Long-term studies with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and Swedish snuff users have shown no demonstrable link between nicotine and cancer.

A 2016 Royal College report said: "In a five-year lung health study of long-term nicotine use, participants were actively encouraged to use NRT for several months, and there is strong evidence of safety for many to continue taking NRT for longer periods, suggesting that there is no association between continued NRT use and the development of cancer (lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer or any cancer) or cardiovascular disease."

Extended reading:
President Wang: Seeking truth| Experimental smoking of e-cigarettes in foreign mice can cause lung cancer?
zhuanlan
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Is formaldehyde present?

What is formaldehyde? The EPA states: "Formaldehyde is a colorless and flammable gas at room temperature and has a strong smell. Exposure to formaldehyde may have adverse health effects."

Researchers at Portland State University reported in 2015 that e-cigarette vapor products produce high levels of formaldehyde, even higher than cigarettes. What they didn't explain was that their experiments used unrealistic high-pressure and smoking machines to produce vapors that could not be inhaled by anyone.

In fact, you can conduct a similar experiment by putting the bread in a toaster and then placing it until the toaster emits smoke and the carbon black in the bread turns black. Will it cause cancer? Yes, but since there is no one to eat, the danger is meaningless. When you think of toast, do you think of black toast? Similarly, toxic aldehydes produced by burning wicks and atomizers are not really dangerous because they cannot be inhaled repeatedly.

In a 2017 study, cardiologist Konstantinos Farsalinos replicated experiments at Portland State University and showed that the vapor produced by deliberate overheating was not suitable for human users. "The high levels of formaldehyde emissions reported in previous studies were caused by unrealistic use conditions that gave e-cigarette users an annoying dry smoke smell and thus avoided this situation," the authors wrote.

In 2018, Farsalinos and Gene Gillman conducted a systematic review and analyzed evidence from 32 studies on carbonyl compounds such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein found in vapors. The authors found that almost all high levels of carbonyl compounds (such as formaldehyde) produced during the study were due to "dry puff conditions" caused by poor methods. They propose standards for future research that define appropriate parameters for atomization experiments, including standardized puff methods, use of current nebulizer and actual power settings, and the PG / VG ratio applicable to the equipment tested.# p#pagination title #e#

We inhale 1 milligram of formaldehyde every day at home. In current e-cigarette atomizers, using an average of 5 mg of volatiles from e-liquids per day will only increase their formaldehyde intake by 0.083 mg. Less than 9% higher than normal exposure levels, the effect was negligible.

Cigarettes, on the other hand, produce a large amount of formaldehyde during combustion.

summary

Cigarettes cause severe damage to the body, damaging smokers almost from head to toe. The harm has been confirmed. In addition, aside from your calculations of possible nicotine dependence, there is no evidence that smoking e-cigarettes can cause similar health problems. But nicotine is not directly responsible for any consequences of smoking.

Only time will reveal the long-term impact of e-cigarette vapor on people. Compared with smoking, e-cigarette atomization is a better choice.