Can Vaping Really Help You Quit Smoking?
Vaping is almost certainly less harmful to your health than cigarette smoking because it does not contain pieces of burnt tobacco leaf (the cancer-causing “tar” in cigarettes). But if this fact encourages smokers to start smoking, but they do not quit smoking, what is the use of vaping?
A new study found that smokers who also vape were more likely to try to quit than smokers who did not, but they were not more likely to quit successfully at the end of the year. The study hoped to provide some conclusive answers to questions such as whether the taste of e-liquid affects the likelihood of successful quitting, but in the end, the researchers admit that the study “may not have been enough to make adequate subgroup comparisons” of vapers. In other words, there weren’t enough people to answer all the questions they tried to ask.
(The study was based on two surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 among smokers, which were carefully selected to represent a large proportion of the population. A total of 858 people responded to both surveys, which included questions about how much they smoke, whether they smoke they., the reasons for smoking and whether quitting was an important factor in the decision to smoke.)
You might think that this would not be an open question. Smokers are addicted to nicotine and vaping provides nicotine, so it should be easy for people to quit smoking. But the same is true of nicotine patches and nicotine gum, and they certainly haven’t started a revolution; Long-term research on these nicotine delivery systems also does not support them as very effective ways to quit smoking.
Therefore, we still do not know if it is worth starting vaping in the hope that you can quit smoking. During and after new research, the vaping industry has grown rapidly and continues to evolve. One study author told the Wall Street Journal that even a few years ago, most vaping systems provided fairly low levels of nicotine, which may explain why smokers were unable to switch to vaping. Today there are devices like juul that provide a higher dose. It might be easier for smokers to quit smoking today, but we really don’t know. The study also failed to take into account possible changes in marketing and public perceptions of smoking and vaping.
We have come to the same conclusions from the report of the National Academies, published earlier this year : veyping can help people quit smoking, but it seems that it also attracts young people who otherwise probably would not have consumed nicotine. Vaping is known to be “95 percent safer” than smoking, but this is really just a guess . We still know almost nothing about the safety of the other constituents in the steam, such as the lead and arsenic content, and flavorings, which, like diacetyl , may be safe to eat but not breathe . Until then, you are on your own; guess wisely.