Study uncovers worrying new side effect of vaping for young adults
Just in case no one told you, vaping isn't the healthy alternative to smoking that some originally billed it as. Hmmm, who'd have thought that inhaling microplastics and unknown chemicals in a variety of weird and wonderful flavors would be bad for your body?
If vaping being linked to the likes of pneumonia and bronchitis wasn't enough, others claim vaping at a young age means you're more likely to smoke cigarettes as an adult, while there are also fears it leads to an increased chance of developing dementia.
Countries around the world have started to clamp down on vaping and put it in the same category as smoking in terms of health, with the United Kingdom among those who've pushed prices up in hopes of reducing the number of those who use it as an alternative to traditional cigarettes.
Vapers are apparently as unfit as smokers
A study from Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom has highlighted even more side effects, this time focusing on fitness and blood vessel function in young adults.
Advert
As published in ERJ Open Research (via Medical News), lead author Dr. Azmy Faisal explained: "In active, healthy young adults with normal lungs, both vapes and tobacco smoking led to worsened exercise capacity, shortness of breath, and intense leg fatigue."
According to Faisal, vaping can lead to 'harmful' changes in your blood vessels and lung efficiency during exercise, leading to a 15% fitness reduction when compared to those who've never smoked or vaped.
The study looked at 75 people aged 18-30, with a third having never vaped or smoked, a third being smokers who'd never vaped, and a third being people who had vaped for approximately three years but had never smoked a cigarette.
Everyone who took part had normal resting lung function and were said to have similar lifestyles in terms of physical activity level, as well as caffeine and alcohol consumption.
Participants took part in an incremental cycle exercise test while their heart rate, breathing, and blood lactate responses were measured at increasing exercise intensities until they reached their maximum.
At peak exercise ability, the vaping and smoking groups apparently had 'significantly' lower exercise capacity and oxygen uptake, down by around 15%.
Alongside their lungs having a reduced ability to blow out carbon dioxide, lactic acid built up more quickly in the vaping and smoking groups at all levels of exercise. Ultrasounds and blood samples noted increased signs of inflammation in the blood vessels.
The worrying side effects of vaping
Saying that the findings offer critical information for the general public, healthcare providers, and regulatory authorities, Faisal reiterated that the study supports the UK's Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, prohibiting vaping for individuals under the age of 18 and hoping to reduce vaping among young adults in general.
The team is already planning further studies that will use MRI to look more closely at how our hearts, lungs, and skeletons are affected by vaping.
Dr Stamatoula Tsikrika from the European Respiratory Society's expert group on tobacco, smoking control, and health education wasn't involved in the research but added: "More and more young people who have never smoked are using vapes. As the popularity of vaping continues to rise, so too do concerns that it is becoming normalised behaviour, functioning as a gateway to nicotine addiction and introducing serious health risks."
Tsikrika warned that even though vapes might have lower levels of cancer-causing substances, they can still trigger genetic changes like DNA damage and inflammation: "For people who have never smoked, and are therefore not using vapes as a cessation method, the health consequences of vaping are becoming harder for policymakers and the tobacco industry to justify."
Looking at the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, Dr Tsikrika concluded: "Ninety-four per cent of smokers start before they are 25 and 22% of 15-16 year olds in Europe are reported to use vapes, by establishing a generational sales ban on nicotine products, the UK has taken a monumental leap towards protecting the health of young people."
It's no secret that vaping can be incredibly addictive, but hopefully, bringing attention to side effects like this will make young people think twice before picking one up.