Vapers cite all kinds of reasons for smoking electronic devices: they want to quit smoking cigarettes or cut down on them, or they just think it's cool and less harmful than cigarettes.
That's not so; vaping delivers cancer-causing chemicals, toxic heavy metals, and lung-damaging flavorings and particulates that stimulate body-wide inflammation.
Plus, somewhere around 25% of vapers end up smoking cigarettes and vaping — and double dosing means double trouble.
A new study in JAMA Network Open shows that despite the claims, vaping does not help you quit smoking cigarettes. In fact, when the researchers looked at data on more than 6,000 smokers, they found that smoking cessation was more than 4% lower among those who also vaped daily than among those who were trying to quit without vaping.
People who smoked and vaped, but not daily, were 5% less likely to quit. Clearly, vaping makes it harder, not easier, to give up cigarettes.
Need more reasons to give up vaping along with cigarettes? Vaping damages your blood vessels and daily vaping nearly doubles your risk of a heart attack. Double-users are at even more risk.
If you're trying to give up cigarettes, don't depend on vaping to help. For techniques that work, check out "Learn about Quit Smoking Medicines" at CDC.gov and all the information available at smokefree.gov.