Can E-Cigs help you to stop smoking? Study shows otherwise

Electronic Cigarettes or E-cigs first came into play in the United States in 2007. Their sales almost doubled from the years 2013 to 2017 as they were widely branded as a cessation aid for smokers. A recent study published under the BMJ journal analyzed 2017 through 2019 data of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, which studies the tobacco use amongst Americans over time. Here’s a quick breakthrough of what they found out.

John Pierce, director of population sciences at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego said “this is the first time we found that e-cigarettes to be less popular than FDA-approved pharmaceutical aids, such as medications or the use of patches, gum, or lozenges”. Director Pierce went on to claim that E-cigs were associated with less successful quitting during that time frame. Nearly 60% of individuals who recently stopped smoking and that were daily e-cigarette users had resumed normal nicotine smoking by 2019. He went on to finalize and say that no evidence supports that the use of e-cigarettes is an effective cessation aid.

In another more recent 2021 study, his team went on to show that individuals that quit smoking tobacco cigarettes between the years of 2013 and 2016 by replacing them for e-cigs or other tobacco products were 8.5% more probable to resume smoking when put in comparison with people who quit all tobacco products.

We need to keep in mind that e-cigarettes are still fairly new, so more research is needed over a longer period of time to determine what the long-term health effects may be. In order to quit smoking, here are a few quick tips from the American Heart Association:

• Educate yourself: learn more about the dangers smoking causes you and the loved ones around you.
• Make a plan and stick with it: set a quit date within the week, choose a method (cold turkey or gradually). Decide if you may need any external help. And then prepare to quit.
• Learn how to deal with your urges: Avoid situations that will make you want to smoke until you are certain you can handle them.
• Get moving: physical activity has been proven to help you manage the cravings and stress when quitting.