Vaping

Vaping an e cigarette.

Inhaling vapor from e-cigarettes seems to cause a similar amount of respiratory distress as smoking a regular cigarette. At least according to this study in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. The scientists looked at the amount of nitric oxide exhaled in 25 volunteers. Toxicologists view drops in nitric oxide exhalation as a marker of inflammation airway damage. 

After ‘vaping,’ or inhaling e-cigarettes’ vapors, volunteers exhaled 2.2 to 3.2 parts per billion less nitric oxide than when exhaling normally. The bigger drop came after volunteers vaped a nicotine-free fluid. Smoking regular cigarettes dropped nitric oxide values by 2.8 parts per billion. An earlier studyfound a similar trend but couldn’t rule out nicotine as the culprit in the larger drop.

From ScienceNews.