E-Cigarette Vapor Can Trigger Gut Inflammation, New Research Suggests

Touted as a "healthy" option to traditional nicotine cigarettes, a new study showed that even e-cigarette vapor alone, which neither contains nicotine or flavoring, can cause gut inflammation, which potentially could to a variety of health concerns.

According to New Atlas, a series of experiments done in the study demonstrated how e-cigarettes could weaken the gut's lining, leading to inflammation.

Previous studies also showed that e-cigarettes could potentially damage the lungs, although it is unclear what it means to overall human health. Studies indicate that e-cigarettes do not seem to be as harmful as traditional tobacco cigarettes, but definitely, it is not harmless.

Chronic Use of Nicotine-Free E-Cigarettes Leads to "Leaky Gut"

Corresponding study author Pradipta Ghosh explained that the gut lining comprises a single layer of cells that are meant to protect the body from harmful microbes, defend the immune system, and allow absorption of nutrients.

There is little information about how gut health could be affected by e-cigarettes. Still, a 2018 study about vape usage reveals that it does not seem to negatively impact the gut microbiome, unlike smoking.

Recent research published on January 5, 2021, in the journal iScience, showed that chronic use of nicotine-free e-cigarettes could lead to a leaky gut in which microbes could seep out the intestines and cause chronic inflammation. As a result, it could become the cause of the emergence of various diseases, such as bowel disease, dementia, cancer, atherosclerosis, liver fibrosis, diabetes, and arthritis.

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Chemicals in E-Cigarettes Cause the Gut Inflammation

According to a report of UC San Diego News Center, the researchers found two chemicals as a base for all the liquid-vapor in e-cigarettes. These are propylene glycol and vegetable glycerol, which causes gut inflammation.

Ghosh said that numerous chemicals were created when these two were heated to generate fumes in vaping that then cause the damage.

The safety of e-cigarettes has been debated fiercely whether it is safe or not. Usually, the debate only centers on nicotine, the addictive part of the cigarette, that could make the e-cigarette unhealthy but disregarded the chemicals present in it, which the makers of e-cigarette touted as a healthy alternative.

However, that is far from reality because the chemicals themselves were the ones that health authorities should be concerned about on e-cigarettes. The study showed that these chemicals could cause gut inflammation, New Atlas reported.

The researchers used 3D models of human intestines generated from patients' biopsies during colposcopy and grew them in vitro. They exposed the 3D models to e-cigarette liquid-vapor to simulate what happens when e-cigarette vapor enters the gut lining.

They noticed that the zipper-like proteins or the epithelial tight conjunction markers that form the first physical barrier of the gut begin to break down and loosen, allowed vapor to seep into the surrounding immune system and unable to effectively clear pathogens, which results in gut inflammation.

Ghosh noted that the adverse effects of e-cigarette vapors might be reversible if the indicting factor, which in this case is the e-cigarette, will be eliminated. However, the damages to the organs might be irreversible.

The researchers plan to study the effects of different vapor flavors of e-cigarettes and determine how they could affect human health.