Another Study Finds A Good Reason To Switch From Smoking To Vaping

When it comes to harm reduction, switching from smoking cigarettes to vaping an electronic cigarette may be ideal for helping protect your health, at least according to a new study from Imperial Brands. That's not to say that vaping is a healthy activity, but when compared to smoking combustion cigarettes, the new research found good news when it comes to DNA damage potential.

The new study set out to evaluate the effects of cigarette smoke and vape aerosol on cells and their potential for DNA damage. The research involved the ToxTracker assays from Toxys; this is the first study to use the system to study vape aerosol and liquids. The study was peer-reviewed and published in Mutagenesis.

The study used six different reporter cell lines to evaluate things like vaping's potential for protein and DNA damage, oxidative stress, and activation of a gene that suppresses tumors and regulates cell cycles. Put simply, the results indicated 'entirely absent or vastly reduced indications of DNA damaging potential in cells' when it comes to undiluted vaping liquids and aerosols.

Breaking down the findings, the study notes that nicotine on its own only produced oxidative stress when at a concentration tens of thousands of times higher than someone would experience from smoking. As well, vaping aerosols that result from heating the e-liquid didn't induce any responses in the six tested cell lines.

The study's lead author Lukasz Czekala said, "Overall, the data from our latest study adds to the weight of scientific evidence demonstrating vape products offer significant harm reduction potential compared to combustible cigarettes."