Before You Inhale:
10 Real Health Concerns With E-cigarettes

As vaping has grown in popularity, many people think an e-cigarette is always safer than smoking.

There are still real health risks with vaping, and because e-cigarettes haven’t been around for many decades, scientific research must keep on determining just how serious the long-term effects will be on people’s health.

Our article today addresses some common questions:

• Does vaping cause cancer?
• Is there a link between vaping and erectile dysfunction?

We’re breaking it down today—what e-cigarettes and vaping are, and information on some risks associated with e-cigarettes, including an incurable condition called popcorn lung vaping.

Let’s talk about ten health concerns with e-cigarettes!

What Is An E-Cigarette?

You may be vaping an e-cigarette (or e-cig) now. But did you realize this product goes by different names?

E-cigarettes are vapes, vape pens, vaporizers, mods, and e-hookahs.

Vaping happens through various methods:

• ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems)
• ANDS (alternative nicotine delivery systems)
• tank systems.

E-cigarettes come in many shapes too. Most are like regular cigarettes, pipes, cigars, or a pen, but some e-cigs might look like a USB flash drive.

How Do E-Cigarettes Work?

E-cigs are battery-operated devices with a liquid cartridge and a mouthpiece.

The battery warms the liquid into mist particles that get inhaled through the mouthpiece.

Why Is It Called Vaping?

The fluid mist particles in an e-cig are called “vapours.” The term “vaping” became known as inhaling those vapours, but technically, this isn’t true!

The tiny mist particles e-cigarettes produce are an aerosol, not a vapour.

E-Cigarette Health Risks You Should Know About

Just because we don’t fully know the long-term effects of vaping doesn’t mean there aren’t any health risks with e-cigs!

Here are ten real health concerns to be aware of.

1. Nicotine in E-cigarettes

The most troubling myth is that vaping is “safe.”

It’s important to know that almost 100% of all e-cig brands contain nicotine!

Not only is nicotine the main ingredient in regular cigarettes and e-cigs, but research shows that vaping products can contain higher doses of nicotine than cigarettes.

Nicotine is a dangerous ingredient because it’s addictive and can affect the growing brains of adolescents and young adults.

Nicotine addiction can make it difficult to concentrate, and both vapers and smokers complain of irritability, restlessness, and poor sleep.

2. Other Harmful Chemicals in E-cigarettes

Nicotine isn’t the only harmful ingredient in an e-cigarette.

Have you heard of propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin? These potentially harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes can irritate the throat and lungs.

Unfortunately, that’s not all!

The following substances may lurk in an e-cigarette:

• VOCs (volatile organic compounds) can irritate eyes, noses, and throats, cause headaches or nausea, and potentially damage the kidney, liver, or nervous system.
• “Buttery flavourings” can contain diacetyl, a potentially toxic chemical linked to severe diseases of the lungs.
• Formaldehyde may cause cancer, and this chemical forms when aerosol overheats in an e-cigarette or not enough aerosol reaches the heater, resulting in a “dry puff.”

It’s important to know that e-cigarettes are vastly unregulated and can also be mislabeled.

We often don’t know what chemicals (including potentially harmful substances) are in a vaping product.

3. A Hard Habit to Break

At OHN, we know the good things are hard!

But when it comes to vaping, e-cigarettes often become a habit that’s too hard to break.

Another troubling myth is that vaping is an excellent way to quit regular smoking—this isn’t true.

E-cigarettes often contain more nicotine than traditional smoke. Because it’s easier to vape than light up a cigarette, many people vape more in a day because it’s so convenient, and they’re inhaling far more nicotine.

4. Exploding Vape Products

Have you heard about e-cigarettes exploding? Unfortunately, this isn’t a myth—the batteries in a vape product can be hazardous, and users need to manage their products correctly.

That’s because the batteries can catch fire (or even explode) when exposed to combustible materials like gas, propane, or oxygen.

People who use e-cigarettes should search for safety tips to avoid e-cigarette battery explosions and learn how to manage a vape product properly.

5. What Is Popcorn Lung From Vaping?

Remember the e-cigarette flavouring ingredient we mentioned called diacetyl?

The diacetyl chemical has been linked to bronchiolitis obliterans—but it’s known as “popcorn lung,” which is the scary reason.

Years ago, factory workers manufacturing microwave popcorn began to get seriously ill. They got sick from inhaling diacetyl.

Popcorn lung causes a dry, non-stop cough, fever, headaches, and shortness of breath when the diacetyl chemical scars the lungs. It can also harm the nostrils, the eyes, the throat, and the skin, and popcorn lung is incurable.

While diacetyl got removed from junk food like microwave popcorn, it’s still found in some unregulated vaping products.

6. Damaging Effects on the Arteries

We read a study by the University Medical Centre Mainz in Germany. It showed that vaping just once can adversely affect a person’s cardiovascular health!

Specifically, participants in the study inhaled two puffs from a vaping product in one minute and did this for 20 minutes.

These damaging effects were noted in the participants after one 20-minute session:

• Elevated heart rates
• Stiffness in their arteries
• A response called endothelium dysfunction was also noted.

The Endothelium is what happens when the arteries contract and then relax. This process maintains blood pressure within the body and releases chemicals that help prevent blood clotting.

Endothelium dysfunction can cause heart disease, dementia, and stroke. Studies like this may prove that prolonged e-cigarette inhalation will damage blood vessels in the brain.

7. Vaping Increases Risk of Coronary and Blood Diseases

Another critical study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center followed twenty young adults: ten used vaping products, and ten smoked regular cigarettes.

The participants were closely tracked at rest and while undergoing some physical stress, as well as before and after smoking or vaping.

The study found:

• Cigarette smokers had blood flow increase to their hearts when they inhaled smoke, but blood flow decreased during a physical stress test.
• People who vaped had decreased blood flow in both circumstances.

Researchers concluded that e-cigarettes could be significantly worse for the heart than regular cigarettes.

8. Diabetes Risks Increase for E-Cigarette Users

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a large survey study on the increased risks of prediabetes in e-cigarette users.

Researchers surveyed more than 600,000 adults on their habits (whether they smoked, vaped, or did both).

One question was, “have you been diagnosed with prediabetes by a healthcare provider?”

The study found:

• Prediabetes in 9% of e-cigarette users
• Current e-cigarette users had a 22% higher risk of diabetes
• Former e-cigarette users had a 12% higher risk.

Based on these findings, the study concluded that vaping increases the risk of prediabetes by 54%. It didn’t matter whether a person smoked cigarettes before or after they started vaping.

9. Does Vaping Cause Cancer?

Research continues on the risks of e-cigarettes in developing cancers of the lungs, mouth, and bladder.

Lung cancer research has identified a link to e-cigarettes. In 2017, a study concluded that e-cig aerosol changes DNA, which could increase lung cancer risks in the human body.

A 2018 study also determined an increased lung and bladder cancer risk from e-cigarette aerosols. Still, because these studies focused on animal subjects, they didn’t replicate the actual use of a vaping device.

10. Risk of Erectile Dysfunction Increases

Why are we so concerned about e-cigarettes?

Oakwood Health Health is concerned about you. Our confidential men’s health clinics help you recapture and protect your potential!

When we investigated new research into the dangers between vaping, men, and erectile dysfunction, we wanted to let you know.

One study focused on ED risks and e-cigarettes. Two teams of investigators focused on two groups of men who vape:

• The first study group was nearly 14,000 men (age 20 and up), and some men in this group had a history of heart disease.
• The second group was about 11,000 men (between 20 and 85) with no prior record of heart disease.

This men’s health study concluded that both e-cigarette users faced a twofold risk of getting erection dysfunction—whether or not they were at greater risk of developing heart disease.

At OHN—We Get You There

Research into vaping and e-cigarette inhaling continues, and long-term effects will be seen in the coming decades that confirm whether vaping causes cancer.

There may also be more dangers to vaping and e-cigs than incurable health issues like popcorn lung vaping.

So what can you do?

Take care of yourself! If you’re concerned about erectile dysfunction, check out our free ED Test online. OHN is here for you when you want to quit smoking or have questions about vaping or e-cigarettes. Speak with an Oakwood Health Network specialist today!