E-cigarettes produce free radicals
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are found to produce free radicals, molecules that can damage cells and cause cancer, according to researchers from the Penn Stage College of Medicine.
E-cigarettes use water vapo to deliver nicotine instead of burning tobacco. Instead of smoke, e-cigarettes produce aerosols, which researchers found contained 100 to 1,000 times more free radicals than regular cigarette smoke.
“There’s a perception that e-cigarettes are healthier than regular cigarettes, or at least not as harmful as regular cigarettes,” said John P. Richie Jr., professor of public health sciences and pharmacology. “While e-cigarette vapor does not contain many of the toxic substances that are known to be present in cigarette smoke, it’s still important for us to figure out and to minimize the potential dangers that are associated with e-cigarettes.”
Previous studies have found low levels of aldehydes, chemical compounds that can cause oxidative stress and cell damage, in e-cigarette “smoke.” But until now, no one has looked for free radicals, the main source of oxidative stress from cigarette smoke. Highly reactive free radicals are a leading culprit in smoking-related cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“This is the first study that demonstrates the fact that we have these highly reactive agents in e-cigarette aerosols,” Richie said. Results were published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
“The levels of radicals that we’re seeing are more than what you might get from a heavily air-polluted area but less than what you might find in cigarette smoke,” Richie said. The radicals are produced when the device’s heating coil heats the nicotine solution to very high temperatures.
Further research is needed to determine the health effects of highly reactive free radicals from e-cigarettes.
“This is the first step,” Richie said. “The identification of these radicals in the aerosols means that we can’t just say e-cigarettes are safe because they don’t contain tobacco. They are potentially harmful. Now we have to find out what the harmful effects are.”
Category: Features, Health alert
