A new Ohio University engineering study shows that vaping is less harmful than conventional cigarettes.

This new study examined the effects of e-cigarettes or vaping on lung surfactant, which is a mixture of lipids and proteins that lines the lungs and reduces the surface tension. In summary, it prevents lung collapse and decreases the work of breathing.

E-cigarette vapour can reach deep into the lungs and thus these types of studies are important regarding vaping effects in the long term. There are many studies that focus on the affects on the cells of the pulmonary airways ie. the deep lungs, but this study looks at how it affects the ability of surfactant to reduce surface tension.

The research found that burning tar, an ingredient in cigarettes, damages pulmonary surfactant, but that the particles of vaping don’t affect the normal functioning of surfactant. This is because e-cigarettes vaporise whereas cigarettes burn.

This means that we can deduce that e-cigarettes do not affect the first protective layer of lungs.

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