A new study published in the scientific journal, Addiction shows that people who both smoke combustible cigarettes and vape while trying to quit cigarettes have lower levels of toxic chemicals in their bodies.
The study looked at the biomarkers of almost 1,300 people who are either smokers, vapers, or both smokers and vapers, known as dual-users. The researchers found that dual-users had less prevalence of toxic chemicals like carbon monoxide in their bodies than people who only smoked.
The new research discredits the previously-held belief that using vaping as a quit-smoking method only led to more smoking and ingestion of more harmful chemicals from both cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
Many studies from the past decade have consistently shown that e-cigarette users often engage in dual use, meaning they continue to smoke while vaping.
This has been the case in the U.S., the UK, and the EU. For example, smokers in the U.S. reported a consistent level of e-cigarette use in three consecutive years ranging from 29.8 percent in 2015 to 27.7 percent in 2018.
The same has been reported in the UK. One study found that dual-use was higher in adolescents who only used e-cigarettes, even though the largest group in the survey was e-cigarette-only users, according to Vaping Daily.
It also showed that young people who began smoking cigarettes first continued to smoke even if they took up vaping.