AMERICAN author Mark Twain wrote: “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.”
Today, giving up smoking will be even more difficult with flavored e-cigarettes. The dangers also rest in that difficulty.
I happened to watch two people vaping in two different instances and I was amazed how enormous the smoke was coming out from these electronic cigarettes. Naturally, I wonder: “How can this smoking equipment reduce nicotine intake when its smoke alone is 10 times more than that of a regular cigarette stick?
Nevertheless, here are new findings from rat studies on vape research:
First, it increases angiogenesis in the heart tissue. Coronary angiogenesis is the increased formation of capillaries in a tissue, causing cardiac hypertrophy or enlargement of the heart. It is associated with hypertension, stroke and heart disease. An enlarged heart is usually associated with functional problems in heart contraction, heart hardening, among others. These conditions also lead to congestive heart failure, arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats) and sudden death.
Second, it increases the number of proteins, called the CD31, which is found in at least 90 percent of angiosarcomas. Angiosarcomas are cancer of the tissue lining of the blood and lymph vessels, which may develop into a bruise-like lesion later on.
Third, short-term use of e-cigarettes slightly increases the collagen content of the heart tissue. However, a significant fibrosis of this tissue has not been observed. Yet, that does not mean that no risks exist for heart fibrosis (thickening of the heart tissues).
So far, vaping has not been observed to jeopardize the contractility of the heart muscles. It also slows down weight gain.
Human studies indicate that inhaling aerosolized propylene glycol (a solvent found in vapes) increases the risk for developing asthma. There were cases of developing “exogenous lipoid (fat-like) pneumonia after using vapes for six months. Its symptoms include fever, phlegm-rich cough and breathing difficulty.”
Ian Fleming once asked in “Goldfinger,” “Can you imagine a cow or any animal taking a mouthful of smoldering straw then breathing in the smoke and blowing it out through its nostrils?”