It’s often portrayed as a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, but a new study may put you off vaping .
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine have found that vaping can clog your lungs with fat - even if the e-cigarette is nicotine-free.
In the study, four groups of mice were exposed to different vapours over a four month period.
The first group was exposed to e-cigarette vapours containing nicotine, while a second group received e-cigarette vapours that were nicotine-free.
Meanwhile, the third group was exposed to tobacco, and the fourth to clean air.
At the end of the four months, the researchers looked at the mice’s long function, and found that animals exposed to tobacco or e-cigarette vapours with nicotine had severely damaged lungs and inflammation, much like human smokers with emphysema.
However, the researchers were surprised to discover that that mice exposed to nicotine-free e-cigarette vapour also had damaged lungs.
But while these mice’s lungs did not show signs of inflammation, they did have a buildup of fats that disrupted both lung structure and function.
The accumulated fat was found to not be from the solvent, but instead was from an abnormal turnover of the protective fluid layer in the lungs.
Worryingly, when the mice were then exposed to the influenza virus, their lungs were no longer able to fight the infection.
Dr Farrah Kheradmand, an author of the study, said: “In summary, our experimental findings reveal that, independent of nicotine, chronic inhalation e-cigarette vapors disrupts normal murine lung function and reduces the ability of resident immune cells to respond to infection, increasing the susceptibility to diseases such as influenza.
“Our experimental findings share similarities with previous multiple case reports describing the presence of lipid-laden macrophages in pulmonary fluid from people with e-cigarette-associated pneumonia.
"Our results support further investigations into the solvents used in vaping."
