Cellular impact of 'Heat not Burn' products may be no less harmful than cigarettes

The impact on lung cells of Heat not Burn products--a hybrid between traditional cigarettes and electronic vaping devices--may be no less harmful than that of conventional cigarettes, suggest the findings of a small comparative study, published online in the journal Thorax.To get more news about iqos, you can visit hitaste.net official website.

Heat not burn products contain nicotine and tobacco, but have been marketed by the tobacco industry as a less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes on the grounds that they don't produce specific harmful chemicals that are released when tobacco burns.

Smoking still kills 6 million people every year worldwide. It heightens the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysm, because it has a role in all stages of artery hardening and blockage.And it causes emphysema and pulmonary hypertension, because it contributes to the damage of blood vessels in the lungs.

Specifically, it contributes to endothelial dysfunction--whereby the lining of small and large blood vessels becomes abnormal, causing arteries to constrict instead of dilating, or blood vessels to become more inflamed; oxidative stress--an excess of harmful cellular by-products; platelet activation--creation of 'sticky' blood; and plaque development that can block arteries.

The researchers wanted to find out if these effects could also be observed in people who used heat not burn products.So they compared endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and platelet activation in 20 non-smokers (average age 28), 20 long term conventional cigarette smokers (average age 27), and 20 long term users of heat not burn products (average age 33).

The conventional smokers had been puffing away for an average of 3.5 years, getting through 13 sticks a day; the heat not burn users had been getting through around 11 products every day for an average of 5 years.The findings showed that compared with not smoking, long term use of heat not burn products was associated with reduced endothelial function and increased oxidative stress and platelet activation.

And there were no significant differences between conventional cigarette smokers and users of heat not burn products.This is an observational study, so can't establish cause. And the researchers acknowledge several limitations to their findings.

These include the small numbers of study participants involved, the lack of random allocation to each group, and the inability to confirm that a participant wasn't a dual user of both conventional cigarettes and heat not burn products.

Nevertheless, they conclude: "If confirmed by other large studies, these findings could provide evidence to strongly discourage non-smokers to start using [heat not burn products] and to encourage [conventional cigarette] smokers to quit smoking."