Can vaping help me to quit smoking?

Many people ask us, can vaping can help me to quit smoking? This is a logical question to ask since there is so much research regarding the harmful effects of tobacco.

Let’s first look at some facts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control cigarette smoking causes over 480,000 premature deaths every year in the United States alone. That works out to be almost one in five deaths being contributed to tobacco use.

In fact, smoking tobacco causes more deaths every year than all of these combined:
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Illegal drug use
• Alcohol use
• Motor vehicle injuries
• Firearm-related incidents

Here are some more interesting facts about tobacco use. More people have died from tobacco use then have died in all wars combined throughout the history of the United States. To put that in perspective roughly 2% of the American population lost their lives during the Civil War alone.

For a full report on all of the harmful effects of tobacco use you can visit the CDC website to learn more.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/

It’s easy to see why smokers want to know if vaping can help them to quit smoking. One major study says yes vaping can help you to quit smoking. Not only that, but the evidence also concludes that vaping is around 95% safer than tobacco.

This is no small study and nothing to sneeze at. It was done by the Public Health Department in England. The authors and researchers who contributed to the study are well known and highly credible.

The study is titled:
E-Cigarettes: An Evidence Update

A report commissioned by Public Health England

Authors: McNeill A, Brose LS, Calder R, Hitchman SC
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, National Addiction Centre, King’s College London UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies
Hajek P, McRobbie H (Chapters 9 and 10)

Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary, University of London
UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies

You can view the entire study here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457102/Ecigarettes_an_evidence_update_A_report_commissioned_by_Public_Health_England_FINAL.pdf
If you’d rather not read the entire study we have highlighted some of the major points below. These clearly illustrate some of the differences between vaping and smoking.

1. People who have tried to quit smoking using various methods but have failed could be positively encouraged to try vaping along with behavioral support.
2. Encouraging smokers to switch to vaping could greatly reduce smoking-related deaths and disease.
3. Electronic cigarettes are attracting very few people who have never smoked in the past.
4. On the other hand, this study supports the Cochrane Review findings that vaping can help quit or sharply reduce tobacco consumption.
5. When used as intended, vaping poses no risk of nicotine poisoning. However, E liquid should be packaged in childproof bottles with accurate nicotine content labeling.
6. E cigarettes are around 95% safer than using tobacco.
7. Ongoing research in the use of tobacco versus E liquid is needed.

Two recent worldwide headlines claim that vaping is dangerous. However, their findings are based on misinterpreted research. This ongoing negative media is one explanation for the public’s change in perception about the vaping industry and safety.

Vaping may not be 100% safe but one thing is certain. None of the harmful chemicals involved in smoking-related disease are present in E juice. Furthermore, E juice would have to be heated to an unpalatable level in order to cause the dangerous levels of chemicals like formaldehyde or aldehides as claimed in the main stream media.

Clearly there is a disinformation war being waged on the vaping industry. Fortunately we have studies like the one above that disproves many of the negative claims made by the media. Nevertheless vaping is not without its risks. I suppose nothing in life is.

Using vaping to quit smoking comes down to a choice. It is the lesser of two evils. On the one hand we have a mountain of evidence and data revealing the harmful effects of tobacco. On the other hand we have substances in E liquid that are already approved by the FDA for the use in food and cosmetics.

That does not make the additives used in E juice a 100% safe alternative but it does make it a safer alternative compared to the harmful substances in tobacco.

So what are the possible side effects to vaping?

This is also a reasonable question to ask. E liquid usually contains only four basic ingredients. Nicotine, propylene glycol, water, and food grade flavoring. Vegetable glycerin is also used in combination with propylene glycol.

Let’s look at each ingredient.
Nicotine is an addictive substance however, health researchers are not 100% sure that there’s any health danger beyond that according to one study published in scientific American

You can read more about that here

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-nicotine-all-bad/

The next ingredient is water. Most high-end vape companies manufacture their E liquid using clean healthy water. That is why it’s important to buy your vape juice from a reputable company. They will have a certified lab and only buy top food-grade ingredients.

Propylene glycol is another primary ingredient in E liquid that the FDA has classified as: generally recognized as safe. It can be found in everything from cosmetics to medications and does not seem to be a danger when inhaled. Studies on this date back to the 1940s and can be read about in the Journal of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics, 1947, 91 (1) page 52 to 76

See
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52

Vegetable glycerin is another primary ingredient in E juice. Unlike propylene glycol, which has been frequently used in breathing treatments, there is little application data on vegetable glycerin. However, we do know that it is a relatively safe substance. It is made from plant oils and can also be found in cosmetic products and herbal remedies.

The final ingredient is flavoring. Since flavoring is a broad term most people assume flavorings are tested for safety regarding inhalation. This does open the doors for concern. Some food ingredients like flower can cause asthma or chronic bronchitis in some people.

Using high grade food flavorings are another reason why you want to buy your E liquid only from a reputable company. They will use only food grade flavorings, ones that are testes as safe and made only by major food manufacturers.
On the other hand a fly-by-night company might use low-quality flavorings that are not FDA approved. These could be of concern to those prone to allergies. It must also be mentioned that flavorings are typically less than 2% of the total content. Compare that to cigarettes that can contain 8.5% or more chemical flavoring.

There is a fifth ingredient called diacetyl which is seldom used but may have some cause for concern. This substance is generally recognized as safe. However, factory workers began to experience health problems in response to being exposed to heavy concentrations every day.

As you can see, electronic cigarettes have four or five basic ingredients that are generally deemed as safe. Vaping health risks seem far lower when we compare them to tobacco, which has hundreds of harmful chemicals — including known carcinogens.

 

It is no wonder that the UK study has deemed E juice to be 95% safer than cigarette smoking. Another benefit to E liquid is that you can order it without nicotine. This is just another reason why folks are replacing harmful cigarettes with vaping.

So now you have some facts to consider when deciding if vaping can help you to quit smoking. In our minds electronic cigarettes are far safer when compared to the health risks of tobacco.

 

So yes, vaping can help many folks to quit smoking.

1. The ingredients are safer than tobacco by comparison
2. You can order it with or without nicotine
3. You can find your favorite flavors
4. It is far cheaper than tobacco
5. Major study says it is 95% safer that tobacco

The truth is nothing in life is 100% safe. Sometimes our choices boil down to which is the safest alternative. Tobacco has demonstrated to be a health risk whereas E juice contains ingredients that are already deemed to be generally safe to use. And, your smoking to vaping side effects are far less with vaping. Ultimately the choice is yours and yours alone. Armed with some facts you can now make the best decision when asking: Can vaping help me to quit smoking?