Smoking and vaping: NHS shows difference between the two
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Unfortunately, high cholesterol doesn’t cause many warning signs. As a result, the fatty substance can build up in your arteries without a warning. This can then lead to health problems, ranging from heart disease to stroke.
If you’re not aware, high cholesterol describes having too much of a fatty substance called cholesterol in your blood.
According to the NHS, this condition affects more than 40 percent of people in the UK.
What’s worse, leaving your levels high can lead to further health problems.
And diet isn’t the only lifestyle risk factor responsible for developing high levels.
Smoking is another tricky habit that can make your cholesterol “stickier”, resulting in it clinging to your arteries and eventually clogging them, Heart UK reports.
The charity explains that quitting is “one of the best things” you can do for your cholesterol levels.
In fact, ditching the rolled-up tobacco can improve your health within days. But what about e-cigarettes?
According to the American Heart Association, the synthetic alternative, often thought to be safer, is actually “just as dangerous, or even worse”.
A study published in the journal Circulation found that vaping can also “worsen” your cholesterol – at levels equal to traditional smoking.
Plus, using e-cigarettes can also negatively impact your triglycerides and glucose levels as well.
In case you’re not familiar, triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood.
The research looked at 476 healthy adults, with some of them using e-cigarettes.
Those who vaped were found to have higher levels of “bad” cholesterol.
This type is the one associated with a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. There’s also “good” cholesterol that can actually cut this risk.
However, people who both vaped and smoked saw their “good” levels lowered.
The study author Dr Sana Majid said: “Although primary care providers and patients may think that the use of e-cigarettes by cigarette smokers makes heart-health sense, our study shows e-cigarette use is also related to differences in cholesterol levels.”
Furthermore, this isn’t the only study looking at the effects of e-cigarettes on heart health.
Another research also published in the journal Circulation discovered that the alternatives reduced the heart’s blood flow.
Looking at 19 smokers, aged between 24 to 32, the study found that blood flow decreased after both inhalation at rest and after handgrip stress.
Study co-author Dr Susan Cheng said: “Providers counselling patients on the use of nicotine products will want to consider the possibility that e-cigs may confer as much and potentially even more harm to users and especially patients at risk for vascular disease.”
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