E-cigarettes More Harmful Than Thought, Study Says

E-cigarettes may be more harmful to your health than was previously thought, a new study published Monday revealed.

While vaping has regularly been touted as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking, emerging research is starting to paint a different picture.

Most recently, the small experimental study published in the journal Thorax by the BMJ shows that vaping could ultimately destroy the important immune cells in the lungs that help keep the air spaces clear of potentially harmful particles, and could kickstart inflammation, Newsweek noted.

Vapor contained in e-cigarettes can damage the alveolar macrophages, which are responsible for engulfing and removing dust particles, bacteria, and allergens that can enter the respiratory tract.

To arrive at this conclusion, researchers conducted a study which mimicked the act of vaping on extracted alveolar macrophages from lung tissue samples provided by the eight nonsmokers.

A third of the cells were exposed to plain e-cigarette fluid, a third to different strengths of the artificially vaped condensate with and without nicotine, and a third to nothing for 24 hours, according to a press release.

What researchers found was that the condensate was significantly more harmful to the cells than e-cigarette fluid and that these effects worsened as the dose increased.

The study also found that the cells that were exposed to vaped condensate were far less able to engulf bacteria.

Ultimately, the findings suggest that vaping can potentially damage vital immune system cells.

Lead author Professor David Thickett said that while e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes, they may still be harmful in the long term.

"They are safer in terms of cancer risk, but if you vape for 20 or 30 years and this can cause COPD, then that’s something we need to know about," he said.

Vaping is becoming increasingly common among youth.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students used e-cigarettes just 30 days during 2016.

A separate study previously found that vaping delivers potentially cancerous chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes to teens, even if an e-cigarette has no nicotine.

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