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In the wake of a terrifying study about heavy metals in vape clouds, experts who have long warned about the potential dangers of vaping are again ringing alarm bells.
Researchers from University of California, Davis recently found such high levels of heavy metals like lead and nickel when analyzing vape mist for a recent study that they thought their equipment had gone haywire.
But the findings were very real. And while the precise long-term health implications of vaping remain hazy — vapes are still so new, in the grand scheme of things, that some health problems they cause probably haven’t even shown up yet — but as the New York Times reports, doctors are startling to advise serious caution.
Cardiovascular expert and doctor James Stein of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine told the newspaper that when you vape “all day long, over and over and over again — you’re basically walking around with high blood pressure.”
That’s because vaping places undue stress on the cardiovascular system, leading your heart rate to rise and your blood vessels to constrict — and it can also lead to an irregular heartbeat condition known as atrial fibrillation, a stroke, or even a heart attack.
As a cardiovascular expert, Stein also is acutely aware of the damage that vaping can cause to the lungs, which are closely linked to the heart via the circulatory system and often implicated in heart disorders. As such, he noted that vaping is known to cause shortness of breath and a persistent cough — which also, obviously, affects traditional cigarette smokers — due to the chronic inflammation associated with it.
Vaping can also, the Wisconsin doctor noted, worsen symptoms of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). By now, that sort of outcome should almost be a given, considering that heavy vape use has been associated with bronchiolitis obliterans, better known as “popcorn lung,” for nearly a decade.
And Irfan Rahman, a nicotine researcher at the University of Rochester Medicine, told the NYT that vapes release more harmful chemicals the hotter they get. Those chemicals, in turn, harm blood vessels, promote inflammation, and increase the risk of heart disease.
Ultimately, people will have to make their own decisions about whether to vape, regardless of how many scary studies come out — but Stein characterized that choice as a no-brainer.
“Common sense tells you — your mom would tell you — that a superheated chemical inhaling right into your lungs isn’t going to be good,” the doctor said.
More on heart health choices: New Study Finds Serious Risk to Eating Edibles
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