Can you quit smoking? Are they less harmful? Huaxi doctors: "Fruit-flavored" e-cigarettes are all harmful

May 2022 can be called the "shopping" month in the e-cigarette market. With the promulgation of the "E-cigarette Management Measures" and the "E-cigarette" mandatory national standard, fruit-flavored e-cigarettes have been discontinued, and "fruit-flavored" e-cigarettes are in a state of "one cartridge is hard to find".

Previously, the World Health Organization released data in August 2021, indicating that there are about 16,000 e-cigarette flavors on the market. The novel taste and beautiful and cool shell quickly attracted a group of teenagers who were looking for novelty to start smoking e-cigarettes.

However, the harm of e-cigarettes is much greater than we imagined.

01

Fruit-flavored e-cigarettes are also cigarettes

"Fruit flavor" is just a layer of "sugar coating" on e-cigarettes. Although e-cigarettes do not burn, they still contain nicotine.

Many teenagers believe that smoking e-cigarettes is not the same as smoking cigarettes, but the reality is that nicotine is not only addictive, but also affects the brain development of teenagers, affecting attention, learning ability, and so on.

E-cigarettes can cause bronchiolitis occlusive pneumonia , also known as " popcorn lung ", a serious, fatal and irreversible lung disease. The aerosol of e-cigarette smoke can cause increased platelet aggregation, significantly increasing the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases .

Long-term use of e-cigarettes can also increase the risk of cancers such as lung cancer . Although e-cigarettes are not burned, the products after heating may also cause cancer.

On May 26, the National Health Commission released the "China Smoking Health Report 2020", stating that "there is sufficient evidence that e-cigarettes are unsafe."

When a foreign cancer research organization studied 12 e-cigarette samples, it found that the detection rates of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, and o-methylbenzaldehyde were 100%, 100%, 91.67%, and 100%, respectively. Among them, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are clear carcinogens.

In other words, every puff of e-cigarette may bring you a little closer to cancer, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease.

02

"Fruit flavor" is more likely to induce teenagers

Causes the "entry effect"

“Fruit-flavored” e-cigarettes may have flavors and fragrances added to them. 90% of e-cigarettes on the market are non-tobacco flavors. Teenagers are less wary of this, and the “entry effect” is obvious.

What is the " entry effect "? It means that people who do not smoke become addicted to nicotine due to exposure to e-cigarettes.

In 2019, a survey by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 2.7% of junior high school students and 2.2% of high school students had started using e-cigarettes.

First you get started, then you get addicted. In 2019, an outbreak of e-cigarette-induced acute lung injury occurred among American teenagers. Studies have found that the toxic substances released by the vitamin E acetate contained in e-cigarettes after high-temperature degradation are harmful to the lungs.

In 2021, Professor John Pierce of the University of California found that the use of e-cigarettes will directly lead to tobacco addiction in teenagers in the future.

In addition, there is uncertainty regarding the interaction between the flavors contained in "fruit-flavored" e-cigarettes. In addition to possibly producing some toxic substances, they may also break down into other unknown substances, causing unknown long-term effects on the body.

Therefore, to stay away from the harm of e-cigarettes, it is recommended not to "get started".

03

Misconceptions about e-cigarettes

Misconception 1: Can e-cigarettes help people quit smoking?

There is currently no conclusive evidence to support that using e-cigarettes can help increase smoking cessation rates.

E-cigarettes are addictive mainly because of nicotine, and the nicotine concentration of e-cigarettes can be adjusted. Many people think that they can gradually reduce their dependence on nicotine and think that smoking e-cigarettes will not be addictive, so they can take a few puffs at any time.

As a result, I quit smoking and ended up feeling lonely.

The nicotine concentration in e-cigarettes ranges from 0mg/mL to 36mg/mL. What does 36mg/mL mean?

The nicotine concentration in some e-cigarette liquids is 3 times higher than that in a traditional cigarette . The nicotine concentration in some e-cigarette liquids is as high as 60 mg/mL or even higher.

For example, a person who used to smoke half a pack of cigarettes a day, after using e-cigarettes, can control himself to smoke 5 cigarettes less with the combination of cigarettes + e-cigarettes. However, the result of doing so is often 1+1≥2!

As shown in the "China Smoking Health Harm Report 2020", most e-cigarette users also use cigarettes or other tobacco products.

In addition, because e-cigarettes are relatively less irritating, people who smoke e-cigarettes tend to inhale more deeply, causing toxic substances such as diethanolamine, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde to enter the body.

Therefore, e-cigarettes not only cannot help you quit smoking, but may also aggravate the harm of smoking .

Misconception 2: There is no secondhand smoke in e-cigarettes?

The smoke is small, but there are still harmful substances

Many people think that e-cigarettes do not have secondhand smoke. This is mainly because when smoking e-cigarettes, there is no side-stream smoke produced after combustion. There is only the air exhaled by the person who smokes the e-cigarette, so the smell of smoke is relatively much smaller.

But think about it another way, do people who smoke e-cigarettes have their own air purifiers to filter out the secondhand smoke? Obviously not.

The burning of tobacco will produce a large amount of solid suspended particles, while the solid particles produced by the atomization of e-cigarette liquid are very few, mainly aerosol or liquid particles , including nicotine, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, PM1.0, and PM2.5 .

In short, smoking is 100% harmful to your health, and the same is true for vaping - even "fruit-flavored" e-cigarettes.

So, how to reduce the harm of e-cigarette smoking?