"Is smoking e-cigs (vapor cigs) really OK, what's the long term research on the health effects of inhaling vapor?" -- concerned reader

This is a great question, especially considering the recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found e-cigarette use has doubled among smokers in just one year. In 2010, just 10% of smokers tried e-cigarettes. By 2011, that number had jumped to 21%.

The bad news is that there's barely any research on the long term health effects of e-cigarettes, and minimal research on what's in them. What is available isn't very positive. In 2009, the USDA study found carcinogens as well as diethylene glycol (an ingredient in antifreeze) in e-cigarettes. More recently, at the European Respiratory Society's annual meeting in Vienna last year, "a study...demonstrated an abrupt increase in airway resistance leading to a lower level of oxygen in the bloodstream in electronic cigarette users." The Mayo Clinic's stance on e-cigarettes is to avoid them because of said studies and since the they have not gone through the FDA approval process. The American Lung Association advises against using them as well.

Are they more healthy than smoking? The jury's still out. It seems like countries are starting to investigate e-cigarettes more closely -- Australia is the latest one to launch a clinical study -- so we should have more information in the coming year.

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