A new study has found that long-term smokers who switched to vaping were halfway towards achieving the vascular health of a non-smoker within a month.
The research shows that while the use of non-tobacco nicotine products may still involve potential risks, the harm reduction they present have immense potential to prevent death and disability from tobacco use, and may indeed even boost government efforts towards a tobacco-free society, according to Journal Online.
The study saw a “clear early benefit” in switching from smoking to vaping, in the largest clinical trial to date.
Those who ditched cigarettes and vaped instead saw their blood vessel function increase by around 1.5 percentage points within four weeks compared with those who continued smoking.
The study didn’t claim that this benefit would be sustained, noting that more research is needed to delve into the long-term implications of vaping. It also warned that vaping isn’t safe, merely “less harmful” than smoking.
But it declared that if this improvement were sustained into the long-term, those who switched would have at least a 13 per cent reduced risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks.