Multiple Studies Show Vaping is Better Than Tobacco

Are these studies the only ones available on vaping and whether it is better than smoking? Are there published research studies from researchers living in other countries like the UK who have concluded that vaping e-cigarettes is healthier than smoking tobacco?

Each question is valid and deserves a considered response. By way of answering these issued raised, let’s consider the following points:

 

What Is A Qualified Research Study?

At the outset of this content, it is essential to note that not every research study’s outcomes are considered scientific evidence.

There are also different types of research. Martyn Shuttleworth of explorable.com makes the following valid statement about research:

"Research is an often-misused term, its usage in everyday language very different from the strict scientific meaning."

Scientific research has a strict methodology, including several protocols that must be followed to ensure that the study is both fair and unbiased in measuring the outcomes' validity.

In summary, here are the research study components:

• Hypothesis or a suggested explanation of a phenomenon.
• Variables or values that change. A variable can be a number, a name, or anything whose value is likely to change during the study.
• Operationalization or the measurement of a variable's behaviour during the study.
• Results including a significance test determining which hypothesis is right.
• Conclusion based on the validity and reliability of the measurements

While some of these components of a research study might seem inane and meaningless to the reader, there are a few that bear relevance to whether a research study on whether vaping is better than tobacco, or not.

As an aside, it is essential to note that a research study's results are only considered valid if the study has been peer-reviewed. And unfortunately, the results of these studies are sometimes skewed because of the funder. While this statement in itself might be seen as contentious and inflammatory, large tobacco companies sometimes fund studies that justify their commercial position. For example, Big Tobacco is not interested in any outcome that doesn't show that smoking tobacco is better than vaping.

Research studies investigating whether vaping is better than tobacco

Therefore, the question that begs is, how do you know whether the results of a study is valid or not?

The succinct answer to this question is that you must look at peer-reviewed, double blind, randomised studies.

Let’s consider a few studies that argue both for and against e-cigarettes:

1.  A Systematic Review Of The Health Effects Of Electronic Cigarettes

This report was prepared in 2015 for the World Health Organization by Charlotta Pisinger, MD, Ph.D., MPH of the Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Glostrup Hospital, Denmark.

At the beginning of the report, the author clearly states that she has no conflict of interest and has not received any funding from any organization involved in the public, commercial, or NPO sectors.

This statement is valid and necessary because it sets the scene for a potentially unbiased view by Pisinger, the author who prepared this report.

In summary, this report looks at 175 studies, each investigating various aspects of the vaping mechanisms, including the content of the cartridge fluid, vapour or extract of vapour as well as the effect of vaping on human and animal cells.

Most of these studies used tobacco and conventional cigarettes as control measures. In other words, the effects of vaping on the human body were measured in relation to the impact of smoking tobacco cigarettes on the human body.

What is extremely interesting is that only thirty-one of the one hundred and seventy-five studies reported adverse effects of vaping.

In essence, the final outcomes of this report state that, while more research is required on the effect of vaping on the human body, evidence is beginning to show that vaping is better for the individual than smoking tobacco.

Note: An article on the John Hopkins University Medicine website notes that while vaping is less harmful than smoking, there have been incidents of lung injury in patients who smoke e-cigarettes. These are primarily caused by people who modify their own vaping devices, or they use black-market modified e-liquids, especially those containing the cannabinoid, THC.

 

2.  Vaping In England: 2020 Evidence Update Summary

 

This is an independent report, commissioned by the Public Health England to summarise available e-cigarette evidence.

This report differentiates between non-nicotine-based and nicotine-based e-liquids. It also doesn’t include any illicit e-liquids.

Nicotine vaping products continue to evolve, improving in both their safety and efficacy. Again, this report highlights that there have been adverse reactions to nicotine-based vaping products, but these are minimal. The USA’s outbreak of lung disease allegedly caused by vaping did not occur in the UK. This report’s author also highlighted the fact that this outbreak was not caused by using legitimate vaping products (as mentioned above). It was caused by people vaping a combination of black-market THC and Vitamin E.

In summary, this report concludes that no additional harm is caused by vaping. In many scenarios, such as mental health challenges, vaping is preferable to, and safer than, smoking. It also notes that the current vaping use has remained stable since 2014 among adults living in England.

Vaping amongst former smokers has continued to increase. 2019 statistics show that about 13% of former smokers vape. Only 1% of people who have never smoked use vaping products. Surveys also show that smokers use vaping products to help them quit smoking.

 

Final Thoughts

Finally, it is essential to note that this report found that the perception among smokers that vaping is harmful is not in line with the evidence. In other words, vaping is less harmful than people believe. The evidence does not agree with public sentiment.

Therefore, when considering all of the evidence highlighted in this discussion, it is reasonable to conclude that vaping is better for you than smoking tobacco.