More Evidence That E-Cigarettes Are Harmful

The flavor chemicals seem to damage endothelial cells, and this can be a very bad thing.

“Doc, I quit crack cocaine like that,” he said, snapping his fingers in my office. “But I can’t stop the cigarettes.” I still encouraged him to do his best to quit.

It must not have been two years later, and he was dead from metastatic lung cancer. He never made it into his 50s.

Given this and many other tragic experiences as a lung doctor — all the while seeing the devastation wrought by cigarettes and their harmful smoke — I welcome anyone who switches from smoking to e-cigarettes. If I had to make a choice, I would choose someone “e-smoking” than really smoking.

That doesn’t mean that e-cigarettes are harmless. New research, in fact, suggests quite the opposite.

In the June 4 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers investigated the effects of flavored e-cigarette liquids and the serum from e-cigarette users on endothelial cells. The results were concerning, with the authors concluding that “acute exposure to flavored e-liquids or e-cigarette use exacerbates endothelial dysfunction…”

The endothelial cells are the cells that line all of our blood vessels. They are…