Is Vaping Really Better For Your Health Than Smoking?
UK Health authorities have declared that E-Cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes. This evidence comes from Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians and is bolstered by Cancer Research UK’s own study that found E-Cigarettes to be 97% less harmful than smoking. This is due to the elimination of thousands of harmful chemicals found in cigarettes.
Introduction
Vaping has quickly picked up steam in the smoking world over the past few years, as countless smokers have successfully transitioned from tobacco products to e-cigarettes and vapes.
But despite the obvious benefits, there are still many organisations questioning the effectiveness of vaping in comparison to smoking, and importantly, it’s long term health benefits in comparison to smoking traditional cigarettes.
Recent studies, including high profile studies by the NHS in particular should help to debunk such myths. We take a look at why long-term vaping is better for your health than smoking.
Lower levels of cancer for vapers
Electronic cigarette users are seen to have lower levels of cancer, as studies such as the one mentioned above has proven.
And it is not hard to see why, after all e-cigarettes only have 4 ingredients: Nicotine, Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerine and Flavouring.
The great thing is that the three main ingredients Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerine and flavouring have been used for years in products like ice cream, chewing gum and thousands of other food items. All these ingredients have been proven safe by the CDC and other health bodies around the world since the 1950’s.
The only ingredient that isn’t completely safe is nicotine, and that is added because it’s the main reason smokers use cigarettes! And even nicotine isn’t as bad as many think and has been compared to caffeine as they are both stimulants.
If you compare that to cigarettes that have at least 4000+ chemicals in and 50+ carcinogens you can begin to see how different e-cigarettes are.
The elimination of these chemicals in e-cigarettes is the reason that Public Health England (the UK health agency) say that e-cigarettes are at least “95% less harmful than cigarettes”.
Healthier lungs when you quit smoking
Vapers have healthier lungs and are less likely to develop respiratory illnesses as a direct result of vaping. In comparison, smokers are much more likely to develop dangerous or debilitating long term illnesses as a direct result of their smoking habit.
And this is due to the difference between the vapour e-cigarettes produces and cigarette smoke. As vapour is made of water it is so much gentler to the lungs than smoke, and as we mentioned above e-cigarettes don’t have the toxins and chemicals of cigarettes so vapour won’t transfer toxins like cigarettes will either.
In fact Public Health England, the people who said that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes, actually did an experiment to show the difference between e-cigarettes and cigarettes on the lungs.
In the video, which can be found here – they set up two tanks with cotton in to replicate lungs and pumped in vapour into one and cigarette smoke into the other.
They then pumped in a month’s worth of both into the tanks and looked at what happened. After only 1 months’ worth of smoke the difference is startling. The cotton in the cigarette tank is completely covered in tar and chemicals, to the point that the cotton is soaked all the way through.
And this residue is a realistic visualisation of how tar destroys your lungs. Tar initially coats and then soaks into your lung cells (cilia) which can paralyse or completely destroys the cells. Once the tar has done this to the cells at the top of your lungs, the tar covers them completely and then the excess moves further into your lungs to do even more damage.
When these deeper lung cells get clogged with tar is when you start getting into lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. It also is the reason why smokers have short breath and tight chests, as the tar is literally stopping your lungs working.
But tar isn't just dangerous because of what it does to your lungs, it is also the carrier for all the chemicals. Tar is what carries the majority of the carcinogens in cigarette smoke, and as the tar seeps into your lungs it spread those chemicals into your lungs and around your body. From the video it is much easier to understand how almost 90% of all lung cancer cases are linked to smoking!
However in the vapour tank… nothing. The cotton was wet (as e-cigarette vapour is water after all) but there was almost no difference between the start of the experiment and the end.
Vaping is better for your wallet long-term too!
Not only is vaping clearly much better for your long-term health than smoking, but it’s also much better for your wallet long term too. While the health benefits of vaping over smoking have long been debated, what has never been up for debate is how much you can save by vaping.
Vapes aren’t subject to the huge taxes that tobacco products are (because, clearly, they are better for your health!) and over a lifetime you’re going to save thousands, if not more by switching to e-cigs.
To put that in perspective 1 pack of 20 cigarettes is now at least £10, while one box of e-cigarette refills which holds about 150 cigarettes worth of nicotine is £9.99. As a box of e-cigarettes has 5 refills in, that works out to about 30 cigarettes worth of nicotine in each refill at only £2!
To buy 150 cigarettes you would be spending £75, so with just 1 box of refills you are saving £65.
To put this another way, if you go through 1 pack a day you are spending £10, and on e-cigarettes you will be spending £2, so saving £8 a day. Over a month you will save £240, and over a year £2880!
The evidence is there. It’s clear that yes, long-term vaping really is better for your health than smoking. So why not quit those harmful, costly cigarettes and start vaping instead?
Choose from our great range of E-Cig starter kits here at SMOKO to get going and to finally get away from cigarettes and tobacco - and see the health benefits after quitting by checking out our Quitting Smoking Timeline!
*2023 Update - Now you can get a SMOKO E-Cigarette starter kit FREE* when you buy a box of E-Cigarette refills! *(Cigalike, one per customer)
