We know very well how harmful cigarettes can be. That is why many people decide to stop smoking. Some may do this definitively, but others found in the electronic cigarette a way to displace it, or at least make the transition to a life without less traumatic tobacco.
Because the technological device is not so long ago Time between us, the real impact on people's health is still unknown. This is the reason why a group of scientists from the University of Birmingham and Swansea (United Kingdom) and the Academic Medical Center in New York (United States) began to investigate the vapor that emitted .
the results, published in the scientific journal Thorax, are not very encouraging. The researchers observed a tendency to inflammation of the lungs and damage to cells of the immune system the product of vaping & # 39 ;.
To study its effects, specialists removed tissue samples from the lung of eight non-smokers and created a mechanical system to mimic the laboratory's vagina. They divided the samples into three and exposed them to the simple liquid that was placed in the devices; another, for different resistances of the condensate of artificial vapors; and the third, to nothing. After 24 hours they verified that the steam emitted by the electronic cigarette (the condensate) changed the activity of the alveolar macrophages .
Why is it important? Because these macrophages are small cells that are responsible for the "cleaning" of our lungs which eat the particles of dust, bacteria and allergens that have been able to penetrate the previous defense in the respiratory tract.
Another thing that the researchers noticed was the increase in the production of inflammatory chemicals . It is worth mentioning that the vapor containing nicotine increased the harmful effect .
"It is important to note that the exposure of the macrophages to the condensed vapor of the electronic cigarette induced many of the cellular and functional changes in the function of the alveolar macrophage, which are the same as observed in cigarette smokers and patients with EPO C ", the authors assured the foreign media.
Anyway, the lead author of the study, David Thickett, agrees that the electronic cigarette contains less carcinogenic substances than tobacco and is therefore less harmful, although despite the fact that he acknowledges that still has to be done, more needs to do test to know what the actual effect of vapor in the lungs is (beyond a laboratory test), warns that "if vaping for 20 or 30 years causes a chronic lung obstruction is something that we need to know. "
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