Is vaping the same as smoking?

In Mexico, every nine minutes there is a death by the tobacco use . It is about 65,000 deaths per year, according tol Institute for the Care and Prevention of Addictions in Mexico City.

Against this background, addicts to the nicotine have alternatives to stop smokes r: chewing gum containing nicotine, absorbing it from a patch, taking it in pills, or, most fashionable in Europe, "Vape" with the call electronic cigarette or (only in Spain, there are more than 800 thousand people who consume it).

However, the sale of this device is prohibited in Mexico by the General Law for Tobacco Control (published in 2008). There are several reasons for its prohibition, but the one that interests us the most is the impact that "vaping" has on your health and your brain .

 

Is vaping the same as smoking?

Vapers are conventional cigarette-shaped devices that release nicotine through a heating of a liquid mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin.

The mixture is heated to 350 degrees by a battery that is charged with a USB port and aspirated through a nozzle. It was invented in 2013 by Hon Lik, a Chinese doctor whose father died for a lung cancer. According to Spanish Society of Pulmonology, the inhalation of nicotine with flavors and aromas is not safe.

There are studies that show that, in the short term, the use of these devices irritates the airway and alters lung function. However, the long-term effects are still unknown.

 

What is the relationship between nicotine and the brain?

We all know that nicotine is a potent alkaloid that can be stimulating and relaxing at the same time. In low doses it is stimulating; releases glucose and epinephrine (adrenaline); increases the levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, as do amphetamines and cocaine.

At higher doses, nicotine is relaxing, increasing levels of serotonin Y endorphins.

However, nicotine is also an impostor substance: it replaces acetylcholine, one of the most important neurotransmitters in the body. brain, that regulates attention, memory, learning, emotions, and is necessary for the activation of muscles

Nicotine deceives and binds to the corresponding receptors in the neurons and assumes the functions of acetylcholine.

As we have seen, electronic cigarettes vaporize a nicotine solution, offering the appropriate dose of the drug, but without being effective to stop smoke . They are just a cleaner way to maintain addiction to nicotine.

 

Is it good to stop smoking?

Advocates of vaping value their potential to decrease the use of conventional tobacco, which is assumed to be much more lethal, based on studies that claim that it serves as a substitute for smoke . However, the majority of the scientific community assures that efficacy as a substitute therapy for tobacco is far from being demonstrated.

The World Health Organization d considers that only 1% of people who vapean can quit smoking. A New Zealand study increases this percentage to 7%, but some scientists consider that it suffers from the methodological characteristics necessary to be considered a reliable study.

These same doctors recommend, as more effective, substitution therapies with patches, gum or tablets to suck. In any case, if you want to quit smoking, the most important thing is to stop using nicotine and seek help.


Video Medicine: Dangers of e-cigarettes, vaping and JUULs: How to talk to kids (March 2024).