Research from West Virginia University School of Medicine suggests that if teenagers vape into adulthood, the cardiovascular effects may be as bad as if they’d smoked cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are gaining popularity among younger consumers with flavors like blue raspberry, birthday cake and root beer float. But almost all e-cigarettes contain a base solution that often includes nicotine.
Using mice as subjects, WVU School of Medicine researchers exposed the subjects to an e-cigarette solution for the human equivalent of 25 years.
The researchers found that chronic exposure to e-cigarette vapor stiffened the aorta (the body’s main artery) 2.5 times more than the regular aging process did in a vape- or smoke-free environment. In comparison, cigarette smoke caused a 2.8-fold increase.
Aortic stiffness is an early warning sign of cardiac and vascular-related diseases.
The research was published earlier this year in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.