Electronic Cigarettes Useful as Smoking Cessation Aid, Researcher Says

Aug. 28, 2012 (Munich, Germany) -- Electronic cigarettes do not appear to be bad for your heart, according to the first study to look at the effects of smoking e-cigarettes on heart function.

The devices -- battery-powered metal cartridges that simulate the effect of smoking by heating nicotine-containing liquid into vapor -- can be helpful to smokers trying to kick the habit, says researcher Konstantinos Farsalinos, MD, of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece.

"Considering the hazards associated with cigarette smoking, currently available data suggest that electronic cigarettes are far less harmful, and substituting tobacco with electronic cigarettes may be beneficial to health," he says.

Speaking here at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, Farsalinos acknowledges that the study was short and small -- only 22 people were studied immediately before and after using the devices.

Another small study shows that e-cigarettes may have short-term harmful effects on lung function, he says.

Many more people have to be studied for much longer before any firm conclusions can be made about the safety of electronic cigarettes, Farsalinos says.

Still, e-cigarettes are the only smoking cessation aids that satisfy both sides of addiction: the chemical craving for nicotine and "the psychological addiction that comes from having something in your hand, lighting it, and inhaling and exhaling it," he says. "Preliminary studies show this [two-pronged attack] helps people to quit."