E-Cigarettes Can Harm a Crucial Substance From Our Lungs

E-Cigarettes Can Harm a Crucial Substance From Our Lungs
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A lot of people use e-cigarettes, although it is well-known that they don’t represent a healthy option, at least for teenagers and pregnant women. A new study by scientists from London comes to enforce the idea that smoking e-cigarettes can affects the user’s lungs.

The London Free Press presents the new research in question by scientists from the Lawson Health Research Institute. If the new findings are correct, it means that the chemical vapor generated by e-cigarettes is able to inflict damage on a very important substance of the lungs.

The functioning of the surfactant can be harmed by e-cigarettes

Surfactant is a substance that plays a major role in the functioning of our lungs. The new study indicates that it can be harmed by exposure to the chemical plume. Surfactant is basically a mixture of fat and proteins that are produced in the lungs of everyone. 

Ruud Veldhuizen, a Lawson scientist and professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry from Western University, explained as the London Free Press quotes:

We found that even in its most basic form, with no colours or flavours, the e-cigarette vapour inhibited the surfactant function,

We tested multiple e-cigarette devices, and they all showed the same thing. . . . Then we randomly picked a number of flavours and started testing those.

12 vape liquids that were commercially available have been selected by scientists for the new research. Flavored vape liquids, as well as some containing nicotine, were included. All of them were tested in the laboratory to understand the effects on surfactants.

Emma Graham, who is the lead author of the new study, explains more, as the same publication mentioned above quotes:

Our focus on surfactant is really important because during a deep inhalation of the vapour, the first thing it really gets to in your lungs is surfactant because it lines your alveoli. It plays a really important role in immune function and keeping you breathing.

Contrary to what some people might believe, most e-cigarettes contain nicotine.


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Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

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