So you are puffing away now on your new found e-cigarette thinking you have made a perfect healthy choice, when you discover they might not be all they been raved about. Just what is in an "e-cigarette"?
Advertising themselves as “healthy alternatives” to cigarettes, electronic cigarettes attempt to recreate the act of smoking in a much more synthesized, scientific fashion. Using a rechargeable battery powered heater, e-cigarettes vaporize liquid nicotine as smokers take drags through the electronic cigarette’s vapor funneling system. The debate is still out on the "healthy" aspects of these cigarettes, as a healthcare professional I don't like them, but I would rather see you use this that smoking a nasty old conventional cigarette. It is a step in the right direction, helping you to quit I hope.
There are no long term studies out yet, the FDA has not weighed in, nor approved any kind of e-cigarettes at all yet as an official smoking cessation device (so there is a clue for ya).
Nicotine is still a drug, even though you are not getting the tar from tobacco, the nicotine has effects that do bad things to your body such as
- stroke
- cardiac ischemia events
- hypertension
- peptic ulcer disease
- high cholesterol
- esophageal reflux
- arterial constrictions
- slow wound healing
- reduced immunity
Infographic credit to Infographicdaily.com
Please choose wisely, make the best choice for your health. You only have one life, live it well.
