Latest multinational research: E-cigarettes do not harm the cardiovascular system

Recently, a paper published by medical teams from Italy, the United States, and other countries pointed out that e-cigarettes cause far less damage to the cardiovascular system than traditional cigarettes, which increase the risk of coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, stroke, and other serious diseases among smokers. E-cigarettes have almost no impact on cardiovascular health.

The paper was published in the authoritative medical journal Drug Testing and Analysis.

According to data from the World Heart Federation (WHF), there are 550 million cardiovascular disease patients worldwide, with 20.5 million dying from heart disease and stroke each year. The research, led by the University of Catania's Center of Excellence for Tobacco Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), examined the effects of traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes on a key indicator of vascular health—the healing ability of vascular endothelial wounds. The lower the healing ability, the more likely it is to cause atherosclerosis, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases and threaten life.

The results showed that traditional cigarettes significantly reduced the healing ability of vascular endothelial wounds. A concentration of only 12.5% of cigarette smoke can inhibit wound healing, and the higher the concentration, the greater the adverse effects. In contrast, regardless of the concentration of e-cigarette vapor, even at 100%, there was no significant impact on wound healing.

“This indicates that the harmful substances damaging cardiovascular health must be present in traditional cigarettes and absent in e-cigarettes. Even if e-cigarettes contain some, their levels are too low to cause harm,” the authors wrote in the paper.

The researchers first ruled out nicotine, which is present in both traditional and e-cigarettes. Nicotine is not carcinogenic and has never appeared on the World Health Organization's list of carcinogens. The authors also emphasized that there is evidence showing that nicotine does not induce atherosclerosis.

The harmful substances in traditional cigarettes are primarily produced during the combustion of tobacco. Research shows that tobacco combustion generates over 4,000 chemical substances, including tar, nitrosamines, and 69 carcinogens, as well as a large number of oxidizing substances (which can cause DNA damage and cell death). The researchers analyzed that a large number of oxidizing substances are likely the “culprits” damaging the cardiovascular system. E-cigarettes do not contain the combustion process of tobacco, so they do not produce a large number of oxidizing substances.

Moreover, switching from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes can have a harm reduction effect. Research shows that after switching to e-cigarettes for one month, smokers' vascular endothelial function improved significantly. “The harm of traditional cigarettes to cardiovascular health is evident, and helping smokers quit has become an urgent task.”

The World Health Organization's website states “Quitting tobacco,” which means quitting tobacco. Numerous authoritative studies worldwide have confirmed that e-cigarettes can significantly improve the success rate of smokers quitting tobacco, and the cessation effect is better than nicotine replacement therapy. “E-cigarettes support smokers' willingness to continuously attempt to quit, which is very commendable,” said Riccardo Polosa, founder of the Center of Excellence for Tobacco Harm Reduction at the University of Catania.

In a recent speech, Riccardo Polosa pointed out that public health institutions promoting e-cigarettes will help reduce smoking rates (number of cigarette users/total population*100%), improving public health environments: “Even among the most resistant to accepting e-cigarettes in anti-smoking organizations, they must admit that e-cigarettes are effective harm reduction products. If harm reduction strategies can be adopted to encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, it will greatly reduce the health risks for smokers.”