Experts warn vaping causes heart damage

ELECTRONIC cigarette vaping could be as bad for the heart as smoking the real thing, scientists have warned.

A study found that a typical vaping session caused similar damage to the main artery in the heart as that suffered by those who smoked cigarettes.

The findings appear to fly in the face of advice from Public Health England (PHE), which last year said vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco and called for GPs to be able to prescribe e-cigarettes on the NHS to help people quit smoking.

Researchers said vaping could damage the aorta in a similar way to smoking as they presented their findings at the European Society for Cardiology congress in Rome, the Daily Telegraph reported, and they would not encourage using such devices.

They found that the effects from a 30-minute session of vaping – seen as a typical habit as e-cigarettes deliver nicotine at a slower rate than cigarettes – were similar to those from smoking a cigarette for five minutes.

Experiments were carried out on 24 adults with an average age of 30, examining only the immediate effects of e-cigarettes and smoking.

Professor Charalambos Vlachopoulos, from the University of Athens Medical School, told the conference: “We measured aortic stiffness. If the aorta is stiff you multiply your risk of dying, either from heart diseases or from other causes.”

Prof Vlachopoulos said: “There could be long-term heart dangers. They are far more dangerous than people realise. I wouldn’t recommend them now as a method to give up smoking. I think the UK has rushed into adopting this method.”

Rosanna O’Connor, from PHE, told the Telegraph: “Vaping carries a fraction of the risk of smoking yet many smokers are still not aware, which could be keeping people smoking rather than switching to a less harmful alternative.”