BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — What many have called the alternative to smoking cigarettes, e-cigarettes or vaping may have some additional dangers, according to a new study.
The study released by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology states that even without nicotine the flavors added to vape juice can cause serious heart problems.
“One answer that can be answered to some extent ‘is it completely safe?, likely not,” Dr. Rasham Sandhu, a cardiologist for Central Cardiology Medical Clinic in Bakersfield explained.
Sandhu says he sees patients using vape as a way to quit smoking. He also adds that it has been effective for some, but the goal should be to quit smoking or vaping completely.
“The nicotine concentration is supposed to lower but they may or may not be true as we are finding out,” Sandhu said.
“When you are vaping it's constantly small puffs you don’t know during a 10 to 15-minute period how much your ingesting.”
The new study raises an even bigger concern. Researchers found inhaling large amounts of nicotine and flavors in electronic cigarettes can cause endothelial dysfunction. This is when the inner lining of the small arteries fails to function normally, which can cause heart disease.
“The cinnamon flavoring [is] the most possibly harmful one in this study,” Sandhu said.
“One of the major concerns is the anthelion cells that line all our blood vessels and the blood flows through it, if the lining is not healthy a number of diseases can arise, such as stroke, heart attack, and blood pressure.”
The study exposed lab grown cells to flavored vape juices and researchers say “ when [they] exposed the cells to 6 different flavorsof e-liquids with varying levels of nicotine, we saw significant damage."
Ted Sisco, owner of Teds Hut, which sells Vaping and CBD products says that he is aware of the flavoring concerns.
“There have been some issues with flavoring in the past and its very important that the vaping community get together and make sure we are doing our due diligent,” said Sisco.
“And not carrying brands that have those and making sure we get testing results from these companies and not using those products.”
Sisco wants to remind individuals to not take in more nicotine than need be.
“We are seeing with new devices that some are taking in more nicotine than when they were smoking cigarettes,” Sisco said. “It's important that customers go to a store that specializes where the sales people know so they are properly informed.”
