Dr Maxime Boidin is the author of a bombshell new study into the long-term effects of vaping, believes the threat to vapers is even worse than it is to people who smoke cigarettes
The impact of vaping could be far worse than originally thought and put users at risk of a grim list of horror complications.
Dr Maxime Boidin – the author of a bombshell new study into the long-term effects of vaping – believes the health risks to vapers are more of a threat than it is to people who smoke cigarettes.
The Manchester Metropolitan University study – which is the first of its kind in the world – contradicts NHS advice that says the inhalation of nicotine vapour is “substantially less harmful than smoking”.
Among the findings were the possibility of e-cigarettes causing cognitive impairments like dementia, as well as heart disease and organ failure. It comes after shocking cases emerged of the lungs of heavy users collapsing, as well as fainting and throwing up a mystery green liquid.
Dr Boidin added that there is also evidence that fitness levels can be affected by excessive use of the products, which are currently recommended by the NHS as a smoking cessation tool.
Dr Boidin met with the Mirror toward the end of the study. He explained the reason behind his findings: “Smokers tend to go outside and smoke, and once a cigarette is finished they have to light up another to keep going. But with vapes, you just keep going and it’s much harder to know how many puffs you’ve had. It’s much easier to vape continuously because you can do it in places where smoking might be less acceptable.
“What we have found is the dangers for someone who keeps vaping are no different from smokers. At the beginning (of the study) I also believed that vaping was more beneficial than smoking. You see a lot more people vaping these days because they don’t think it’s too bad. Many will be horrified to know the truth.”
Study participants were aged between 18 and 45, all with similar levels of fitness ability. They were put under stress tests to measure the speed of blood flow to their brains, and the elasticity of their blood vessels.
What they found was that vapers appeared to have damaged artery walls which were unable to dilate. This is said to be an indicator of future cardiovascular problems. Dr Boidin blames the findings on nicotine, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin irritating the delicate blood vessels.
He says: “When you put this mixture of metals and chemicals into your body you can’t expect nothing to happen.” Vaping use in the UK has exploded since the first electronic cigarettes arrived here in 2005. There are now 5.1million people aged 16 or over in Britain – about one in ten – using vapes, according to figures last year from the Office for National Statistics. Vaping rates were highest among those aged 16 to 24, at 15.8%.
“One million people in England now vape, despite never having been regular smokers, a seven-fold increase in three years, according to a University College London study published in The Lancet Public Health Journal. And, despite recent vaping scares, like the death this year of Hollyoaks star Paul Danan, aged 46, who months earlier revealed he’d had to be revived after suffering respiratory failure caused by excessive vaping, Public Health England is still advising that “vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking”.
Vaping side effects
Heart disease
Dementia
Organ failure