Almost every American with a television has seen an anti-vaping ad. Recent search reported that over 94% of American adults have heard of the harmful effects of e-cigarettes and vaping, one of the many reasons vaping has become a huge problem for America, especially for teens and teens. 20 years and over.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaping rates have dramatically decreases, but those who still do may be struggling with a heavy addiction. This addiction can cause significant health problems. Research into side effects is still ongoing, but new results from Ohio State University suggest that vaping may cause more health problems in men than in women.
Context: a smoky epidemic
Vaping is a nickname used for smoke electronic cigarettes. It can also be used to smoke marijuana, and many vapes include flavored products and cartridges to suit the user’s particular preferences. Vaping has become particularly prevalent among teenagers and young people, as approximately 3.02 million American high school students vape. It’s easy for many of these people to get access to an e-cigarette or vape because older friends or relatives can do it. If a young person has a community of friends who vape, it can be easy for them to fall into an addiction. Men are about twice as likely to vape as women, making them a bigger target for negative side effects.
Analysis: smoke the heart
“We don’t know the long-term effects of vaping because it’s only been around since the early 2000s,” the study’s lead author explained. Loren Wold. “We haven’t had the time to see what’s going on, especially with the teenagers. In order to study the effects of vaping, researchers at Ohio State University subjected adolescent mice to electronic cigarette smoke. This exposure started when the mice were about 12 in human years and stopped when the mice were about 30 in human years. After the exposure, the researchers examined the mice and found a reduction in heart function in the male mice, but not in the female mice. The researchers thought it was because the female mice had higher concentrations of an enzyme that breaks down nicotine.
“The results were surprising. We were shocked at the level of protection given to women,” Wold said. “The theory is that since the enzyme breaks down nicotine much faster, the nicotine isn’t in circulation for as long, and that may be why women show protection from vaping.” Researchers now hope to find out when reduced heart function occurs in adolescent male mice, as well as whether this specific enzyme is what actually protects female mice.
Insights: overcoming vaping addiction
Although this is only a study on the effects of vaping, it is important in revealing the negative side effects on the health of those who vape. This result can be used to help curb addiction among teenagers and young people, especially men. This, in turn, could help reduce health problems and potentially save millions of young American lives.
Kenna Castleberry is a Debrief Writer and Science Communicator at JILA (a partnership between the University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST). It focuses on deep technology, metaverse and quantum technology. You can find more of his work on his website: https://kennacastleberry.com/
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