|
|
Mind, Body, Soul
To
E-Cig or No?
By Mona Lease
Greetings, Gals!! I'm submitting the following because I found it
confirming and because nicotine is...well, nicotine. I have a few
flowers poking their green leaves above the ground. Warm weather is on
the way! Keep reaching! Keep stretching! Keep your dreams and goals
before you!
E-Cigarettes: What Vaping Does to Your Body - Can Nieremberg, Live
Science Contributor; May 16, 2016
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs, have been on the market in the US
since 2008 and gained wider use through the years. Evidence emerged on
e-cigarettes short term effects and their positive and negative impact
on peoples' health.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid - usually
containing nicotine mixed with the chemicals propylene glycol and
glycerin and often flavorings from bubble gum to watermelon - into a
vapor that users can inhale. They deliver nicotine, a highly addictive
drug, to the body without producing any smoke.
May of 2016, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it's
authority to regulate tobacco products would then extend to include
e-cigarettes. The devices - along with cigars, hookah and pipe tobacco
- will be regulated in a similar way to conventional cigarettes. This
new rule also banned the sale of these products to people under 18
years of age in both stores and online.
What's Known About E-Cigs: "There is no question that a puff on an
e-cigarette is less dangerous than a puff on a conventional
cigarettes." said Stanton Glantz, University of California, San
Francisco.
Because e-cigarettes create a vapor rather than produce a tobacco
smoke, they generally deliver less nicotine to users than cigarettes
do, Glantz said.
However, that doesn't mean the devices always represent a safer step
down from cigarettes. One of the most dangerous things about
e-cigarettes is that they may keep people smoking conventional
cigarettes longer, rather than encourage them to attempt to quit.
Estimates vary. Anywhere from 70-90% of e-cigarette users are "dual
users, " meaning they continue to smoke regular cigarettes after they
begin vaping, Glantz said.
Regardless of how the nicotine is delivered, e-cigarettes or
conventional cigarettes - it still has effects on the body. The drug is
a cardiovascular stimulant and can potentially worsen heart disease in
people who already have heart conditions. It's not known whether
nicotine alone can cause heart disease in people who don't have heart
problems, said Dr. Michael Siegel, Boston University School of Public
Health.
There's evidence that e-cigarettes can have a substantial effect on
blood vessels, and may increase peoples' heart attack risk, Glantz said.
One of the biggest risks of e-cigarettes is the potential for the
lithium-ion battery to explode - sometimes in the user's face or eyes.
The Unknowns about E-Cigarettes:
Studies are inconclusive as to whether e-cigarettes are less harmful
than cigarettes.
The long-term effects in people who "vape" over time are not known,
Siegel said. It's also unclear whether propylene glycol, a known
irritant to the respiratory system, could result in lung problems after
decades of vaping, he said. E-cigarettes have only been on the market a
short time, therefore the full extent of effects on the heart and
lungs, as well as their cancer-causing potential, over time, is not
known, said Glantz to Life Science.
Little is known about the flavoring agents in e-cigarettes. More work
needs to be done to look at whether using e-cigarettes and traditional
cigarettes interferes with the desire to quit, Glantz said.
The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid,
Glantz added. (As of 2015, the FDA is investigating this and has not
published as formal finding).
"Sometimes all you need is for someone to just be there, even if they
can't solve your problems Just knowing there is someone who cares can
make all the difference." - sun.gazing.com
The best is yet to be! MONA
|
|
|
<
|
