Does Vaping Cause Diabetes?

Does Vaping Cause Diabetes? Lets Find Out What Research Has Been Done

A new research study claiming that Vaping is linked to prediabetes has been the focus of newspaper stories – but did the researchers actually find it?

Over the last year, scientists have tried to claim that electronic cigarettes cause damage to bones, erectile dysfunction, stroke, and depression. One by one they were shown up to be deeply flawed pieces of work. Now, a new study published by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine has caused newspapers to shout that vaping causes prediabetes – we look at the evidence to support the statement.

What is Prediabetes?

Prediabetes is a condition where the sugar levels in the blood are significantly higher than they should be, but not high enough for the doctor to say that you have diabetes.

What symptoms do people with Prediabetes have?

People with prediabetes can have blurred vision, cold hands, cold feet, be thirsty, have a dry mouth, need to visit the toilet often, experience urinary infections, and have itchy skin.

Who ran this Recent Study?

The lead author of “The Association Between E-Cigarette Use and Prediabetes” works at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University – an institution that receives funding from the billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

What do the Researchers say?

Both e-cigarette use and the prevalence of prediabetes have risen dramatically in the past decade.”

This prompted them to see if there is a link. They didn’t investigate to see if there is a link between e-cigarette use and the prevalence of electric cars, people using Twitter, or the number of potholes on British roads.

What probing questions did they ask their subjects?

Have you ever used an e-cigarette or other electronic “vaping” product, even just one time, in your entire life?”

People who responded ‘yes’ were classified as vapers, even if they had only used one once.

What did the Researchers Conclude?

This study reported the prevalence of prediabetes and found a positive association between both former and current E-cigarette use and the odds of prediabetes.”

Does this mean Vaping will give me Diabetes?

No, the American Council on Science and Health says: “The paper has all the hallmarks typical of research in the vaping-more-harmful-than-we-thought genre. And, as usual, the media has done nothing more than uncritically amplify its conclusions.”

What else did the American Council on Science and Health say?

The study was based on incomplete data and its conclusions were restricted by serious limitations. For now, there’s little reason to think vaping ups the risk of prediabetes.”

It says the team failed to collect meaningful data as answers to their questions do not provide an adequate assessment of electronic cigarette use.

Classifying someone as an ‘ever chocolate user’ because they reported eating a Snickers bar once in their life tells you absolutely nothing about their dietary habits. Asking them if they eat chocolate “every day or some days” is equally unhelpful. In this case, you need to know with more specificity how much someone vapes and what kind of device and e-liquid they use.”

Moreover, the research team didn’t obtain confirmation from participants’ doctors that they actually had prediabetes.

In Conclusion

Studies do show that smokers do not eat as healthily as non-smokers and tend to exercise less. It is reasonable to assume that this holds true for most ex-smokers who have switched to vaping and therefore it is the lifestyle choices, not the e-cigarette use that might be linked to prediabetes – but there is no evidence from this study or anywhere else to confirm this.

Managing Prediabetes

Vaping is far healthier than smoking and E-Liquids UK fully recognises this, we stock a wide range of non-smoking products with free next day delivery.

notification icon

We'd like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.