--- title: Study: E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings description: E-cigarettes have fewer toxins than regular cigarettes but still contain addictive nicotine canonical: https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-19T19:04:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:32:50.401Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings og:description: E-cigarettes have fewer toxins than regular cigarettes but still contain addictive nicotine og:url: https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb6144995dde87e/698769a1e20a8789fca83716/147880131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3660 og:image:height: 2059 og:image:alt: An Electronic Cigarette Is An Anti Smoking Health Device og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings twitter:description: E-cigarettes have fewer toxins than regular cigarettes but still contain addictive nicotine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb6144995dde87e/698769a1e20a8789fca83716/147880131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 7:04 PM UTC  KNUTSFORD, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 05: In this photo illustration a woman smokes an electronic cigarette on July 5, 2012 in Knutsford, United Kingdom. Electronic cigarettes are the latest health device for smokers hoping to quit nicotine addiction. Earlier today a major security operation took place in Staffordshire, England, after a passenger on a coach used an electronic cigarette which was mistaken for something more sinister and a full scale security alert was instigated. The 48 passengers were later allowed to carry on with their journey. (Photo illustration by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) KNUTSFORD, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 05: In this photo illustration a woman smokes an electronic cigarette on July 5, 2012 in Knutsford, United Kingdom. Electronic cigarettes are the latest health device for smokers hoping to quit nicotine addiction. Earlier today a major security operation took place in Staffordshire, England, after a passenger on a coach used an electronic cigarette which was mistaken for something more sinister and a full scale security alert was instigated. The 48 passengers were later allowed to carry on with their journey. (Photo illustration by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) Christopher Furlong—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 7:04 PM UTC E-cigarettes, which contain anywhere from 100 to 1000 times fewer toxic substances than tobacco cigarettes, significantly reduce tobacco cravings, according to a [new study](http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/11/11220/htm). Hoping to answer to whether e-cigs decreased the urge to smoke tobacco cigarettes or the urge to smoke altogether, researchers at KU Leuven followed 48 smokers who did not plan to quit for eight months. The smokers were split into three groups, two of which could both vape and smoke tobacco cigarettes for the first two months, and the third of which could only smoke tobacco cigarettes. In the second stage of the study, published in the _International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,_ the third (control) group was given e-cigarettes as well. Long-term smokers were likely to trade in tobacco cigarettes for e-cigs: 21% stopped smoking tobacco entirely, and an additional 23% cut the number of tobacco cigarettes they smoked per day in half. Across all groups, the number of tobacco cigarettes smoked was cut by 60%. “With guidance on practical use, the nicotine e-cig offers many smokers a successful alternative for smoking less – or even quitting altogether,” Professor Frank Baeyens, who headed up the study, said in statement. “E-cig users get the experience of smoking a cigarette and inhale nicotine vapor, but do not suffer the damaging effects of a tobacco cigarette.” Of course, the participants were presumably still hooked on nicotine, the addictive property in both e-cigs and tobacco cigarettes. And since e-cigarettes are still new, robust research has not yet demonstrated what the consequences of smoking them might be compared to other cigarettes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/"},"headline":"E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings, Study Finds","datePublished":"2014-11-19T19:04:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:32:50.401Z","description":"E-cigarettes have fewer toxins than regular cigarettes but still contain addictive nicotine","url":"https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/","keywords":["Addiction"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb6144995dde87e/698769a1e20a8789fca83716/147880131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb6144995dde87e/698769a1e20a8789fca83716/147880131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Electronic Cigarette Is An Anti Smoking Health Device","caption":"An Electronic Cigarette Is An Anti Smoking Health Device","creditText":"Christopher Furlong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/addiction/","name":"Addiction"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3595057/e-cigarettes-tobacco-cravings/","name":"E-Cigarettes Reduce Tobacco Cravings, Study Finds"}}]}] ```