--- title: Vaping: Are E Cigs Bad For Your Heart? description: A small new study finds that e-cigarettes with nicotine can boost adrenaline levels in the heart. canonical: https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-21T15:40:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:31:25.794Z article:section: Health og:title: Are E-Cigs Bad For Your Heart? og:description: A new study finds that e-cigarettes can boost adrenaline levels in the heart og:url: https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc19ee5acebcfd35c/6988dea4cf40a8aeddc4977f/gettyimages-803006796.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Smokeless Tobacco Devices By Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris International And British American Tobacco og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Are E-Cigs Bad For Your Heart? twitter:description: A new study finds that e-cigarettes can boost adrenaline levels in the heart twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc19ee5acebcfd35c/6988dea4cf40a8aeddc4977f/gettyimages-803006796.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Are E-Cigs Bad For Your Heart?  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 21, 2017 3:40 PM UTC  An attendant demonstrates Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Ploom Tech smokeless tobacco device for a photograph during a media preview at the company's Ploom Shop Ginza in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, June 28, 2017\. By next week, smokeless devices by Japan Tobacco, British American Tobacco Plc and Philip Morris International Inc. will be sold in Tokyo, vying to dominate the race for next-generation tobacco products. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images An attendant demonstrates Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Ploom Tech smokeless tobacco device for a photograph during a media preview at the company's Ploom Shop Ginza in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, June 28, 2017\. By next week, smokeless devices by Japan Tobacco, British American Tobacco Plc and Philip Morris International Inc. will be sold in Tokyo, vying to dominate the race for next-generation tobacco products. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 21, 2017 3:40 PM UTC Scientists are still trying to determine the health effects of e-cigarettes, and until now, they have focused their attention on the addictive properties of nicotine and the potentially [cancer-causing agents in the vapors](http://time.com/90756/e-cigs-still-produce-carcinogens-study-shows/) the devices emit. But in a small new [study published in the _Journal of the American Heart Association_](http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/6/9/e006579), researchers document another growing health concern of e-cigs: that they may have negative effects [on the heart](http://time.com/3173827/e-cigs-heart-group/)**.** Scientists led by Dr. Holly Middlekauff, professor of medicine at University of California Los Angeles, and her colleagues found that devices that contain nicotine can boost adrenaline levels in the heart—essentially putting the heart under stress, which is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Middlekauff studied 33 healthy people who were not current tobacco or e-cigarette smokers and asked them to come to the lab on three different days. At each visit, they smoked a different device: a placebo with no active ingredients, an e-cig with nicotine or an e-cig without nicotine. (While e-cigs do not burn tobacco, most do contain nicotine.) For years, doctors believed that nicotine, while addictive, was not the component in cigarettes that posed the biggest health risk. Instead, they thought the tar that was more concerning. By comparing nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigs, Middlekauff wanted to determine whether the same was true for nicotine and the heart. **MORE:** [Here’s Why Bacteria Like E-Cigs](http://time.com/103412/e-cigarettes-boost-antibiotic-resistance/) She found that only the nicotine e-cigs caused an increase in adrenaline levels, which raises new concerns about the dangers of nicotine. While doctors have been worried about the non-nicotine components of e-cigs because of their link to cancer, nicotine may also be contributing to heart problems. That’s especially worrisome if people are turning to e-cigarettes as replacements for tobacco cigarettes. “Long-term inhaled nicotine hasn’t been studied in terms of heart risk,” says Middlekauff. “If it leads to high adrenaline levels in the heart, which has been shown to be a risk factor in people both with and without heart disease, then that’s a problem.” Based on the current results and her previous work, Middlekauff suggests that non-smokers [should not start using e-cigarettes](http://time.com/3634728/fewer-teens-smoking-e-cigarettes-health/) because they think they are a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. But for current smokers of tobacco cigarettes, the e-cigs might be a slightly better option. (Many smokers rely on e-cigs as a way to [wean themselves off from smoking](http://time.com/3103691/e-cigs-are-smokers-favorite-quitting-tool/).) Her earlier imaging studies that looked at inflammation in the body due to smoking found slightly less inflammatory responses to e-cigs than to tobacco cigarettes, she says. Inflammation, which can disrupt unstable plaques in the blood vessels, can contribute to heart attack and heart disease. “The way I think about it is that if you currently smoke tobacco cigarettes, switching to e-cigs may be a better choice, at least from the data we have,” she says. “But if you don’t smoke at all, I would strongly advise that you not start using e-cigarettes, because they are not harmless.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/"},"headline":"Are E-Cigs Bad For Your Heart?","datePublished":"2017-09-21T15:40:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:31:25.794Z","description":"Researchers reveal that e-cigarettes can boost adrenalin levels in the heart","url":"https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/","keywords":["Heart Disease","Smoking","tobacco","E-Cigarettes","e-cigs","Nicotine","heart"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc19ee5acebcfd35c/6988dea4cf40a8aeddc4977f/gettyimages-803006796.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc19ee5acebcfd35c/6988dea4cf40a8aeddc4977f/gettyimages-803006796.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Smokeless Tobacco Devices By Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris International And British American Tobacco","caption":"Smokeless Tobacco Devices By Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris International And British American Tobacco","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via 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/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4950561/e-cigarette-heart-health-effects/","name":"Are E-Cigs Bad For Your Heart?"}}]}] ```