{"id":216284,"date":"2019-05-27T22:56:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T02:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=216284"},"modified":"2019-05-27T22:56:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T02:56:14","slug":"study-suggests-e-cigarette-flavourings-may-pose-heart-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/27\/study-suggests-e-cigarette-flavourings-may-pose-heart-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests e-cigarette flavourings may pose heart risk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThis is really a warning shot that people should not be complacent and think that these e-cigarettes are completely safe,\u201d Wu said. (Pixabay Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 E-cigarettes aren’t considered as risky as regular cigarettes, but researchers have found a clue that their flavourings may be bad for the heart.<\/p>\n

Longtime smokers who can’t kick the addiction sometimes switch to e-cigarettes, in hopes of avoiding the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke.<\/p>\n

But cigarette smoking doesn’t just cause lung cancer. It’s a leading cause of heart attacks, too, and little is known about e-cigarettes and heart disease. Chemicals in the inhaled vapour may pose unique risks that are important to understand, especially as more and more teens take up vaping.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not possible for me to go into a patient and strip their artery and test it\u201d for a reaction to vaping, said Dr. Joseph Wu, director of Stanford University’s cardiovascular institute.<\/p>\n

So his team tried the next best thing for a study published Monday: In laboratory dishes, they grew cells that normally line healthy human blood vessels. They exposed the cells to six different e-cigarette flavourings, testing if the flavours \u2014 and not just the nicotine \u2014 caused any effects.<\/p>\n

They also tracked what happened when those cells were bathed in blood taken from people right after they had an e-cigarette, the way chemicals from vaping would make their way to the cardiovascular system. They also compared the cells’ exposure to blood from nonsmokers and people who smoked a regular cigarette.<\/p>\n

Vaping and some flavourings, even without nicotine, triggered blood vessel dysfunction that can increase the risk of heart disease, the researchers reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.<\/p>\n

Cinnamon and menthol seemed the most toxic. But overall, cells showed signs of damage and were inflamed, less able to form new blood vessels or heal wounds.<\/p>\n

Small laboratory studies like this one can’t prove vaping really does harm, cautioned Dr. Jane Freedman of the University of Massachusetts, who wasn’t involved in the research. But she said the work should spark additional safety testing.<\/p>\n

The findings \u201csuggest that even without the smoke of combustible cigarette products, there may be a smouldering fire of adverse health effects,\u201d she wrote in an accompanying editorial.<\/p>\n

Another study at a recent heart meeting looked at health records to conclude e-cigarette users had a higher risk of heart attack than people who neither vape nor use tobacco products, but that, too, was only a clue, not proof.<\/p>\n

Wu’s team plans additional studies. The researchers are working with so-called \u201ciPS cells,\u201d ordinary cells taken from healthy volunteers and reprogrammed into a state where they can be grown into any type of tissue. Next up are tests of heart and brain tissue.<\/p>\n

U.S. public health officials are alarmed by an explosion of underage vaping, but Wu said it’s not just a question for teens. He worries about people who already have heart disease and may think switching from tobacco to e-cigarettes is enough protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really a warning shot that people should not be complacent and think that these e-cigarettes are completely safe,\u201d Wu said.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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