How does e-cigarette vapour affect the body?
- The bloodstream carries a stimulant, nicotine, to the brain, which releases dopamine and other NT (endorphins), making smoking highly addictive.
- E-cigarette vapor increases production of inflammatory chemicals and disables key protective cells in the lung that keep the air spaces clear of potentially harmful particles. Damaging these cells makes them vulnerable to dust, bacteria and allergens that might lead to incurable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Though e-cigarettes do not create carbon monoxide, the vapor can still decrease the oxygenated hemoglobin fraction. The chemicals in vapor fill alveoli (tiny air sacs), which exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide between lungs and blood. Toxic gases can cross that membrane into the blood and bind hemoglobin, displacing oxygen that usually would have been transported around the body, similarly to traditional cigarettes. This change in pulmonary gas exchange after vaping is a result of the small airway constriction.
- With each inhalation, smoke brings more than 5000 chemical substances in contact with the body’s tissues. Inside airways and lungs, it is thought that e-cigarette flavouring increases risk of disease and infections by damaging cilia (tiny hair-like structures), whose job it is to keep the airway clean.
- Nicotine, and other chemicals, constrict blood vessels and damage endothelial lining, restricting blood flow. These vascular effects lead to the thickening of blood vessel walls and enhance blood platelet stickiness, increasing clot formation and increasing risk of heart attack and stroke.
- Chemicals trigger dangerous mutations in DNA, causing cancer. These mutate DNA repair, compromising the body’s ability to fight disease.
The CT scans shown above indicate damage from vaping-induced lung injury. As you can see, the injured lungs (right) have many more areas of dense, white sections, indicating significant injury compared to healthy lungs (left). This is just one example of how the mechanism of e-cigarettes can cause damage to the body.
References
Chaumont, M., Borne, P. V. D., Bernard, A., Muylem, A. V., Deprez, G., Ullmo, J., … Debbas, N. (2019). Fourth generation e-cigarette vaping induces transient lung inflammation and gas exchange disturbances: results from two randomized clinical trials. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 316(5). doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00492.2018
TEDEducation. (2018, September 13). How do cigarettes affect the body? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation
University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority. (2019, March 10). UW Health Doctors Urge Teens and Young Adults to Quit Vaping. Retrieved from https://www.uwhealth.org/news/uw-health-doctors-urge-teens-young-adults-quit-vaping/52911?fbclid=IwAR1DA2gApd4cLpNHi0gtam1tUxzOQQpdcmap1tKj0-nJ_sv8R28AP_3CsI0
