Qianlong.com reported on November 16, according to media reports, an important research result of Dundee University in England shows that switching from traditional cigarettes to electronic cigarettes is significantly beneficial to the heart health of smokers: compared with traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes have less harm to vascular health and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

The study, named Vesuvius, was commissioned by the British Heart Foundation. It is also considered the largest study to date on the effects of e-cigarettes on the heart, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The two-year study by Dundee University School of medicine recruited 114 long-term smokers who smoked more than 15 cigarettes a day for at least two years. They were divided into three groups: continuing to smoke traditional cigarettes, switching to nicotine containing e-cigarettes, and switching to zero nicotine e-cigarettes. The experiment lasted for one month, and the health status of the subjects was monitored throughout the experiment. Before and after the experiment, the researchers also tested their vascular health.

When traditional smokers switched to e-cigarettes, their vascular health improved significantly in just four weeks, especially in female smokers. The study also found that vascular health improved significantly in subjects who switched entirely to e-cigarettes than those who smoked both traditional and e-cigarettes.

Jacob George, Professor of cardiovascular medicine and therapeutics at Dundee University, was the lead researcher on the study. Although e-cigarettes are not completely harmless, they are far less harmful than traditional cigarettes in terms of vascular health, he said. Non smokers or minors should not try e-cigarettes, but for long-term smokers, vascular function has improved significantly just one month after switching to e-cigarettes.

Medical research shows that the increase in blood vessel function by 1 percentage points reduces the incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, by 13%. We found that when smokers switched from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes, their vascular function increased by an average of 1.5 percentage points in a month. This data means that their vascular health has improved significantly. Moreover, by switching to e-cigarettes, women benefit more than men, and we are still studying the reasons for this phenomenon. " Said Jacob George.

According to statistics from the British government, about 6% of adults in the UK use e-cigarettes. Although most e-cigarette liquors contain nicotine, they do not contain tobacco. In 2016, tobacco killed 7.1 million people worldwide. In addition, the amount of other chemicals in e-cigarette is far lower than that in cigarette.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, deputy director of the British Heart Foundation, said smoking traditional cigarettes can cause damage to our hearts and blood vessels. In the UK, 20000 people die each year from heart and circulatory diseases caused by smoking traditional cigarettes. That is to say, more than 50 people a day, or two people an hour, die as a result.

"This study shows that e-cigarettes are less harmful to vascular health than cigarettes. After giving up traditional cigarettes and switching to e-cigarettes, their vascular health began to recover within a month. E-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, but they are not completely harmless. People who never smoke should not use e-cigarettes, but for traditional smokers, e-cigarettes are a good tool for them to completely quit traditional cigarettes. "

Meanwhile, the Scottish Minister of public health, Joe Fitzpatrick MSP, said, "I am very supportive of the publication of this report, which will lead to ongoing discussions on e-cigarettes in the community. I'm also happy to see such important research coming into being in Scotland, which also confirms our reputation as a frontier in medical research. Although studies have shown that switching to e-cigarettes for long-term smokers is beneficial to their vascular health, we still need to be cautious about using e-cigarettes, which are not products for minors or non-smokers. "