UK scientists are conducting study one year long (so far with first 6 months results) to find out if tobacco heating systems are actually less harmful, than regular cigarettes. Let's talk about its results.
What's the problem?< /h2>
Scientists and physicians are unanimous in matters of tobacco consumption: only a complete rejection of nicotine in any form can be considered a reduction in all risks from its consumption. Consumers themselves do not seem to argue with this. According to WHO, 60% of smokers worldwide would like to quit their bad habit. But not everyone succeeds.
Despite the fact that smoking bindswith cardiovascular pathologies and diseases such as cancer, asthma, COPD, tuberculosis, erectile dysfunction, many nicotine addicts are unwilling or unable to quit smoking. The question arises, is it possible to make the process of nicotine consumption less risky? Although there is still no definite positive answer, the world community is trying to find a solution to this problem.
What are the options?
There are a number of products that completely eliminate combustion processes: tobacco heating systems, vapes, electronic cigarettes and nicotine packs. One of the most popular technologies, tobacco heating systems, works by heating the tobacco stick. This eliminates the formation of smoke and tar, and the delivery of nicotine to the body is carried out by aerosol.
This technology does not make the main component — nicotine — harmless, but excludes the impact of other tobacco combustion products. It is known that when burning an ordinary cigarette, such harmful substances as carbon monoxide, nitrosamines, aldehydes, resins are emitted along with smoke — about 4 thousand chemical compounds in total, more than 70 of which are considered carcinogenic.
The absence of smoke allows scientists to consider new systems nicotine delivery as a potentially less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes. There is still controversy around this hypothesis. To clarify, scientists researchaerosol innovative devices, comparing them with traditional cigarettes. Researchers are analyzing how much switching to heating systems reduces the amount of toxic substances in the body compared to continuing to smoke. To study the issue, volunteer smokers are attracted, as British scientists recently did.
Recent research
A six-month study was conducted in the UK and compared how much lower the harm from glo tobacco electronic heating systems compared to conventional cigarettes. Work results published in the journal Internal and Emergency Medicine this June.
Who was invited as a participant?
During the experiment, scientists selected 295 men and women who smoked from 10 to 30 cigarettes or rolled tobacco cigarettes daily for at least five consecutive years.
They were divided into three groups:
- 59 people continued to smoke their regular cigarettes;
- 127 switched exclusively to glo tobacco heating systems;
- 109 participants quit smoking with nicotine replacement therapy.
The participants were predominantly young people, with an average age of 37 to 40 years. They had no obvious health problems, and ECG, laboratory tests and lung function tests remained within normal limits. In addition, at least two weeks before the start of the experiment and during the study itself, none of the subjects took drugs that suppress inflammation or affect liver function.
How was the effect measured?
How was the effect measured?
Five times within six months, the researchers measured the daily urine levels of participants in 13 biomarkers — toxic and carcinogenic substances that accumulate as a result of the consumption of tobacco products. Indicators were chosen that are usually associated with the risk of developing “smoking diseases”. For example, the biomarker NNAL, which is considered a carcinogen that causes lung cancer.
Scientists also assessed the general condition of the body of smokers who switched to the tobacco heating system and switched to nicotine replacement therapy. For this, biomarkers of potential harm were studied. For example, the level of leukocytes and prostaglandin 8-Epi-PGF2a type IIIindicating general inflammation and oxidative stress. Whole blood, plasma and serum were used to detect biomarkers of potential harm. Exhaled air was also analyzed. It measured the level of nitric oxide (FeNO), which indirectly indicates the condition of the vessels of the lungs and inflammation of the respiratory system.
Switching from conventional cigarettes to a tobacco heating system and smoking cessation in the group throwers were monitored by measuring CEVal (N-2-cyanoethyl-valine). This substance is a marker of burnt tobacco in erythrocytes — red blood cells — and remains in the blood for up to 120 days.
What was the result?
The researchers compared the scores between the groups several times during the study and with those of a control group of never-smokers. In regular cigarette smokers, all biomarkers remained stably expressed during the six months of observation, which indicates a high level of health risk. In the rest of the groups, changes in such biomarkers as the carcinogen NNAL, prostaglandin 8-Epi-PGF2a type III and the number of leukocytes were especially pronounced.
These indicators decreased in those who completely gave up cigarettes and switched to using a tobacco heating system. For example, the NNAL level in this group of participants decreased by about half by the end of the first month and remained at this level until the end of the study.
Also significant were the data on benzene (s-PMA) and hydrocarbon (MHBMA) products. By the end of the study, the levels of these markers in those who switched to tobacco heating systems and in those who quit smoking were equal to those of never-smokers in the control group.
It also turned out that in the exhaled in the air when switching from cigarettes to tobacco heating systems, the level of nitric oxide (FeNO) increased. A change in this indicator indicates that the vessels of the lungs have probably become less spasmodic.
Predictably, of the three groups of smokers, the best changes occurred in those who quit smoking completely. Their level of carcinogenicity biomarker NNAL after 30 days fell by almost 80%, and after six months it was equal to the non-smoking group. For most indicators, quitters also outperformed the groups of smokers significantly. The results of those who completely switched to glo are in many ways comparable to those participants in the study who completely quit smoking.
What are the conclusions?
Any use of nicotine comes with health risks and the best health solution is to stop consuming it completely. The new study builds on past research into alternative nicotine-containing products and provides some useful insights.
Due to the lack of smoke, tobacco heating systems may be a more gentle alternative to regular cigarettes for those adults who already smoke. This is confirmed by American experts (CDC), specifying that sparing does not mean safe. These devices contain nicotine, which means they can cause the same addiction as regular tobacco.
Clarification from the authors of the study
П positive changes in biomarkers in those who switched to tobacco heating systems occurred only with a strict rejection of conventional cigarettes. The difficulty, which the authors of the article themselves write about, is that average healthy people were selected for the study and the results may vary slightly at the population level. As the authors of the work write, the results will not necessarily be the same if smokers use both cigarettes and their analogues at the same time. The long-term impact of switching from cigarettes to tobacco heating systems is still a matter for further study.
How to apply the new data?
By eliminating the harmful effects of cigarette smoke, tobacco heating technology can be a good aid in the fight with smoking. This application of modern technologies offers the British National Health Service (NHS).
This is confirm data from the Cochrane Science Library: out of a hundred people who quit smoking, 10 will succeed by switching to electronic nicotine delivery systems, six by using nicotine replacement therapy, and only four by themselves