Scientists suggest e-cigarettes do not harm the heart
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Smoking of electronic cigarettes is less dangerous for the heart than inhaling conventional tobacco.
Such a report was made by Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos from Aristotle Onassis Heart Surgery Center. The results of the research of Greek scientists were presented at the European Conference of Cardiology 2012, which was held in Munich, Germany.
According to Dr. Farsalinos, smoking electronic cigarettes causes much less harm to health than smoking conventional cigarettes.
Disappointing forecasts were announced by the World Health Organization. Experts have calculated that by the end of this millennium, nicotine addiction will cause more than 1 billion deaths. And for 6.5 seconds on the planet, 1 person dies of a disease associated with the use of tobacco.
As an alternative to conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes are on sale. They are steam generating devices. The inhaled vapor of the electronic cigarette is practically the same as usual tobacco smoking. It has the same taste and smell. Electronic cigarettes are sold complete with cartridges filled with liquid, heating element for evaporation of liquid, and battery.
Vendors of smoking electronic devices assure buyers of their harmlessness for both the smoker and the people around him.
And as it turned out, this statement is not just a PR move of companies. Analysis of liquids that are used to make electronic cigarettes showed that they are less harmful to health than conventional ones. Especially, they practically did not have nitrosamines - carcinogens, formed from tobacco alkaloids, which cause tumors of the lungs, pancreas, esophagus and mouth. In those places where these carcinogens were found, their concentration was 500-1 400 times lower than in a traditional cigarette.
The specialists conducted an experiment involving 20 healthy young smokers aged 25-45 years and 22 "electronic" smokers.
To refuel an electronic device, NOBACCO USA Mix was used with a nicotine concentration of 11 mg / ml.
Volunteers were offered to smoke a regular and e-cigarette.
The usual smoking session ended with acute myocardial dysfunction, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate in all subjects.
The second experience with the use of an electronic cigarette showed opposite results - a 7-minute inhalation of e-device vapors did not provoke an increase in blood pressure. Function of the left ventricle, which was disrupted after smoking tobacco, worsened only by a few indicators.
The author of the survey warns that it is too early to state the security of electronic devices. But the fact that they are less toxic and therefore less harmful obviously already now. It is possible that substitutes for conventional cigarettes will revolutionize the tobacco industry.