Now let’s look at the results. Remember that our researchers were looking at three different impacts of vaping: inflammation, DNA damage and repair, and cancer formation. Let’s start with inflammation. 

Usually inflammation is a short term response to some kind of damage, but problems start to arise when tissues become inflamed for too long. The researchers found that in the mouth and gums, long term inflammation resulted in a gum disease called periodontitis that causes the user’s gums to pull back and potentially lose their teeth. The researchers also found that e-cigarette aerosols caused more inflammation and damage in lung cells than traditional cigarette smoke. And flavored aerosols were worse.

Next we have DNA damage and repair. The researchers found that the chemicals from aerosols and the body processing aerosols can actually bind to DNA. This can cause damage and the DNA can’t work properly. These chemicals can also break the DNA strands, which some studies have linked to cancer. The researchers noted that sweet, minty, or fruity flavors resulted in more DNA damage. Usually DNA can repair itself, but the researchers also identified studies that reported reduced repair mechanisms in lung, heart, and bladder cells linked with vaping.

And finally cancer formation. The researchers found that as of 2019 there were 3 recorded cases of oral cancer that could be directly linked to vaping. They also saw reports that both flavored and unflavored aerosols caused cancer in lung cells.