82% of Heavy Smokers Successfully Quit Smoking through Vapes

The Institut Pasteur has demonstrated that TPD vape is much less harmful than heated tobacco and cigarettes. Focus on this study which compares the health impact of these three products.

Funded by the National Cancer Institute and the IRESP (Public Health Research Institute), the study carried out by the Pasteur Institute in France analyzed the levels of carbonyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in emissions a standard cigarette, heated tobacco smoke, and three vaping devices. The smoke and vapor were delivered to various human cells (bronchial epithelial).

The goal? Compare the level of risk reduction between heated tobacco and vaping.

According to the eleven co-authors of the study funded by INCA and IRESP: “In the context of tobacco harm reduction, in which smokers should ideally be able to choose freely among a variety of alternatives to smoking, emerging tobacco products (like heated tobacco) and vaping appear to have the potential for a promising new offering. However, it is fundamental for smokers to know and compare the health risks of these different emerging devices in order to determine which product should be preferred for smoking cessation,”

Study conditions

Vaping is devoid of all 7000 harmful compounds found in cigarette smoke. An e-cigarette’s vapor is devoid of carbon monoxide and tar.

The Institut Pasteur has therefore sought to determine the risks of aerosol emissions from vaping by focusing on two levels of toxic classes. These two levels were then compared to both heated tobacco and tobacco cigarettes.

With the following equipment:

• Cigarette. It was burned to measure the levels of 19 carbonyls and 23 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

• Heated tobacco,

• An old model with a resistance of 2.8 ohms at 4.6 Watts and a more recent Mod box integrating a resistance of 0.5 ohms in two configurations (one at 18 Watts and the other at 30 Watts).

• 3 OEM vape tested filled with a liquid with a classic taste at 16 mg/mL (70/30).

The team of researchers from the Institut Pasteur took into account the parameters of the daily use of a vaper: “To ensure realistic experimental conditions, two regular vapers tested the e-cigs used in our study to avoid the generation of dry puffs, using the puff duration and power settings as tested with the smoking machine. Users have confirmed the absence of a dry puff sensation and sufficient vapor production. In addition, the temperature of the generated aerosol was also considered an indicator of experimental relevance and realism.”

The results

The results show that vaping is a risk reduction tool, much less harmful than heated tobacco:

Reduction of 99.8% of carbonyls for the Modbox and more than 99.5% for the different models of vape against that of 77% for the tobacco to be heated.

Heating tobacco reduces the dose of carbonyls by four times, while vaping reduces it by around 200 to 500 times! (For the user with equal nicotine delivery compared to the cigarette)

The rate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) was reduced to 98.5% with the Modbox.

On the cells of the wall (epithelial) of human bronchi: The effective dose (ED50), in other words, the dose of the substance causing a reaction in the cells which eliminates half of it is reached in two puffs of cigarettes. This threshold is crossed after 120 puffs of vaping, so that for the researchers: “The e-cig vapors did not induce sufficient cell death to calculate an ED50 (regardless of the power or the e-cig model tested)”

These results from the Institut Pasteur de Lille deserve to be better known. According to a survey by the CAK association carried out in collaboration with BVA, 75% of USA people do not know that vaping is less dangerous than smoking!

82% of heavy smokers have quit smoking among vapers

The study conducted by ViaVoice reveals that the vaper is an effective weaning aid tool. The proof? You are 7 out of 10 to declare having quit smoking! The study shows that it is a tool preempted mainly by long-time smokers with high cigarette consumption. Indeed, 82% of heavy smokers have quit smoking among vape users.

The vape, a solution for heavy smokers

“Heavy smokers” profiles, in other words, people who smoke or have smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day and for more than 10 years, represent 44% of the respondents in the study.

The study reveals that vaping is a particularly suitable way of quitting for these “heavy smokers”: 82% of them have completely stopped smoking and, above all, among them, 7% no longer vape at all! These results are thus in line with the data expressed in the France 2017 Public Health Barometer on the use of electronic cigarettes by 18-75-year-olds since among the ex-smokers questioned, “76.3% declared that the vaper helped them to stop smoking. smoking, of which 67.8% without any other help”.

Once vaped, heavy smokers’ nicotine rate confirms their desire to wean themselves completely: it drops considerably over time. If more than 70% of heavy smokers started at more than 7 mg (24% between 13 and 18 mg), today, only 20% are above this threshold and only 3% between 13 and 18 mg (1 tobacco cigarette equals 1 mg of nicotine).

Heavy smokers have a therapeutic use of electronic cigarettes. Given their answers, it is a natural means of weaning, like other nicotine substitutes (patches, gums, inhalers, etc.)

From heavy smokers to light vapers, health above all!

All the respondents are fully aware of the damage caused by their addiction to their health: 89% of those surveyed make concern for their health and well-being their primary motivation for quitting smoking.

Among the respondents, they are:

• 49% to start the electronic cigarette to be in better health thanks to the stop of the consumption of harmful substances related to tobacco combustion.

• 40% start vaping to wean themselves and control their nicotine levels and thus manage their addiction to reduce it gradually.

A finding is confirmed among “heavy smokers” since 52% of them start vaping to be in better health and 43% to wean themselves off.

Disparities between vapers and female vapers

Among those surveyed, men use electronic cigarettes more to preserve their health (51%) than for recreational use (27%). In comparison, women use them for weaning purposes (44%) while maintaining the gesture of smoking (21%).

The study is very instructive; for the first time, we have solid data on the habits of vapers. These results will allow us to continue to design products adapted to each profile and each smoking cessation journey. We note that vaping is particularly effective in helping heavy smokers, the public most at risk, to quit smoking. This is essential data on which we will work to offer more precise weaning aids ever.