Study finds vaping may be more dangerous for boys than girls

By Tom Campbell via SWNS

Vaping weakens the heart of teenage boys but not girls, scientists have found.

Women could be protected from the harmful effects of vaping because they have more nicotine-busting enzymes, according to a new study.

Vaping has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many smokers switching to the so-called healthier alternative.

Nearly 20 million in the world vape, but the jury is still out on whether there are long-term health consequences, especially for those who start young.

Concerns have been raised as most e-cigarette brands contain nicotine, an addictive drug that can impact brain development in adolescence.

It is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase nicotine vaping products in the United States.

Now scientists in the United States have found vaping could put teenage boys at risk of having heart problems.

Senior author Dr. Loren Wold at the Ohio State College of Medicine said: “We don’t know the long-term effects of vaping because it’s only been around since the early 2000s.

"We haven’t had the time required to see what happens, especially with adolescents.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate cardiac function in adolescent mice exposed to e-cigarette aerosol."

Mice were exposed to an e-cigarette mixture containing nicotine from what would be the ages of 12 to 30 in human years.

While male mice exposed to the aerosol experienced heart problems, females remained unaffected, the researchers found.

Females also had much higher levels of enzymes that break down nicotine known as CYP2A5 or CYP2A6 in humans.

Dr. Wold said: "The results were surprising.

"We were shocked at the amount of protection afforded to females.

"The theory is that since the enzyme breaks down nicotine so much faster, the nicotine isn’t in the circulation as long and that may be why females exhibit protection from vaping.”

Next, the researchers are hoping to determine when exactly during adolescence the heart problems start developing.

They will also look to confirm whether the enzyme CYP2A6 helps protect women from heart problems brought on by vaping.

The findings were published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.