--- title: Major Study Says E-Cigarettes Can Help Smokers Quit description: A nationally representative study says regular e-cigarette use may help smokers quit and does not raise the risk of relapse. canonical: https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-24T17:10:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T22:25:09.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Daily E-Cigarette Use May Help Smokers Quit After All og:description: According to one of the most comprehensive studies yet og:url: https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36c530cfb3f17f/698a005b7cdbacb858d6109b/e-cigarettes.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: E-cigarette use og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Daily E-Cigarette Use May Help Smokers Quit After All twitter:description: According to one of the most comprehensive studies yet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36c530cfb3f17f/698a005b7cdbacb858d6109b/e-cigarettes.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:33 video:published: 2015-08-19 section: health topics: e-cigarettes, tobacco harm reduction, smoking cessation, public health policy, youth nicotine use, public perception of health risks genre: news, explainer tones: informative, cautious, analytical emotions: concern (medium), curiosity (medium), hope (low) sentiment: neutral audience: general news readers, smokers considering quitting, public health professionals, parents people: Public Health England director organizations: Public Health England, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention products: electronic cigarettes, conventional cigarettes content_suitability: health controversy [00:43-01:33] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Daily E-Cigarette Use Can Help Smokers Quit, According to One of the Most Comprehensive Studies Yet > 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 weekday 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 weekday 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=27a7c0ad-4feb-4bd5-b9f8-3b68ac60a13f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: So, E-Cigs Might Be Way Less Harmful Than Actual Cigarettes [Watch (HLS stream): So, E-Cigs Might Be Way Less Harmful Than Actual Cigarettes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JVvlZ8r7.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2015-08-19. A study says electronic cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes and advocates promotion of e-cigarettes as a way to help people quit._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video reports on a Public Health England review finding electronic cigarettes far less harmful than conventional cigarettes, and on rising public misperception that e-cigarettes are equally or more dangerous. It notes a Public Health England director's view that this misperception may keep smokers from quitting, and that local stop-smoking services should support e-cigarette use as a path to quitting. It also covers the controversy over youth use, contrasting the Public Health England findings with a CDC study showing e-cigarettes are the most used tobacco product among high schoolers. ## Key points - Public Health England reviewed evidence and found electronic cigarettes to be 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes. (00:03) - Most chemicals that cause smoking-related diseases are not found in the electronic version of cigarettes. (00:10) - The share of people who believe e-cigarettes are as dangerous or more dangerous than regular cigarettes rose 14% since 2013. (00:18) - A Public Health England director said this misperception may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. (00:31) - The director suggested local stop smoking services should support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely. (00:37) - Public Health England's study found an overwhelming majority of e-cigarette users are former tobacco users and found no evidence that e-cigarettes lead children to smoke regular tobacco. (00:45) - A CDC study published earlier this year found e-cigarettes had become the most used tobacco product among high schoolers. (00:59) - Critics worry that efforts to boost e-cigarette popularity with adults will translate to increased use among children, since both product types can contain nicotine. (01:18) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:37] Public Health England's harm finding and public misperception. The review's 95% harm estimate, the chemical comparison, and the rise in people who think e-cigarettes are as dangerous as cigarettes are presented. - [00:37 to 00:45] Quitting support for smokers. A Public Health England director urges stop-smoking services to support e-cigarette users in quitting completely. - [00:45 to 01:33] Concerns about youth e-cigarette use. Public Health England's findings on adult users are contrasted with CDC data on high schoolers and critics' concerns about nicotine and youth addiction. ## Key quotes - [00:03] narrator: "Public Health England recently published a review that found electronic cigarettes to be 95 % less harmful than conventional cigarettes." - [00:31] narrator: "A director at Public Health England said this misperception may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting." - [00:59] narrator: "But a Centers for Disease Control. Prevention study, published earlier this year, found e- cigarettes had become the most used tobacco product among high schoolers." - [01:18] narrator: "Critics worry that steps to increase e- cigarettes popularity with adults will translate to an increase in use among children." ## Questions this video answers - How much less harmful are electronic cigarettes than conventional cigarettes according to Public Health England? [00:03] - Why might public misperception about e-cigarettes be a problem for smokers? [00:31] - Who uses e-cigarettes according to Public Health England's study? [00:45] - What did the CDC study find about e-cigarettes among high schoolers? [00:59] - Why do critics worry about promoting e-cigarettes to adults? [01:18] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:43-01:33]: Debate over e-cigarette appeal to youths and whether promotion could increase child nicotine use.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:25 PM UTCPublished: Jul 24, 2019 5:10 PM UTC  An illustration shows a man exhaling smoke from an electronic cigarette in Washington, DC on October 2, 2018\. - In just three years, the electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul has swallowed the American market with its vaporettes in the shape of a USB key. Its success represents a public health dilemma for health authorities in the United States and elsewhere. (Photo by EVA HAMBACH / AFP) (Photo credit should read EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images) An illustration shows a man exhaling smoke from an electronic cigarette in Washington, DC on October 2, 2018\. - In just three years, the electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul has swallowed the American market with its vaporettes in the shape of a USB key. Its success represents a public health dilemma for health authorities in the United States and elsewhere. (Photo by EVA HAMBACH / AFP) (Photo credit should read EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images) EVA HAMBACH—AFP/Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:25 PM UTCPublished: Jul 24, 2019 5:10 PM UTC E-cigarettes have long been pitched as a healthier alternative to cigarettes, and one that could help smokers kick the habit by delivering nicotine without many of the dangerous byproducts of combustible tobacco products. But there’s plenty of debate in the scientific community as to whether that’s actually true. For every study that suggests[ e-cigarettes can help](https://time.com/5517247/e-cigs-more-effective-helping-smokers-quit-study/) smokers quit, there’s another[ that says they can’t](https://time.com/36090/study-e-cigarettes-do-not-help-people-quit-smoking/). Now, one of the most comprehensive studies yet provides solid support for daily vaping. It found that adult cigarette smokers who also used e-cigarettes every day were 77% more likely than non-users to have quit and stayed off cigarettes after two years. [The paper](https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntz114/5531618?redirectedFrom=fulltext), published in the journal _Nicotine & Tobacco Research_, used data from about 8,200 adults who participated in the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. Each person provided information about their health, lifestyle and tobacco use, then updated researchers about their tobacco use a year and two years later. At the start of the study, only 3.6% of smokers reported daily e-cigarette use, while 18% reported more sporadic use. But people in that small group of daily vapers, the researchers found, were more likely than either periodic e-cigarette users or non-vapers to report abstaining from traditional cigarettes by the end of the study. Eleven percent of the original daily vapers reported being cigarette-free during both of the follow-up surveys, the researchers found—a relatively small portion overall, but a significant improvement over the 6% of non-vapers who had kicked the habit. Sporadic e-cigarette use, the researchers found, was not associated with higher odds of quitting, perhaps because these people were not using e-cigarettes in hopes of completely ditching combustible cigarettes, or because they could not satisfy their nicotine cravings with less-consistent use. Past studies that did not find a connection between vaping and smoking cessation may not have accounted for the differences in daily versus periodic use, the authors theorize. Some public-health experts also fear that a sustained nicotine habit, in the form of vaping, may increase a former smoker’s chances of relapse.[ One study](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2737916) published earlier this month found that to be true. But in the new study, daily vapers were only slightly more likely than non-users to revert back to cigarette smoking. About 4% of daily vapers who reported quitting after one year relapsed by the next year, compared to about 3% of non-vapers. E-cigarettes contain fewer known cancer-causing chemicals than traditional cigarettes, but they aren’t risk-free. An accumulating[ body of research](https://time.com/5442252/are-e-cigarettes-safe/) suggests they can cause heart and respiratory issues (although [one prominent study](https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014519) on vaping and cardiovascular disease was later retracted), and those risks may compound when they’re used in tandem with cigarettes—a concerning prospect, since, as the new study shows, many smokers use both products. Nonetheless, the latest research offers some of the strongest evidence yet that e-cigarettes can play an important part in[ further reducing](https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/) cigarette-smoking rates in the U.S. _This post was updated to reflect the retraction of prior research._ ## Transcript [00:00] Cigarettes is becoming less and less of an all inclusive [00:03] term. Public Health England recently published a [00:06] review that found electronic cigarettes to be 95 % less [00:10] harmful than conventional cigarettes. Most chemicals [00:13] that cause smoking- related diseases are not found in [00:16] the electronic version. The number of people who [00:18] believe e- cigarettes are just as dangerous or more [00:21] dangerous than regular cigarettes has jumped 14 % [00:25] since 2013, however. And perhaps, counterintuitively, [00:28] The over- cautiousness worries some researchers. A [00:31] director at Public Health England said this [00:34] misperception may be keeping millions of smokers [00:37] from quitting. He suggested that local stop smoking [00:40] services should look to support e- cigarette users in [00:42] their journey to quitting completely. Completely. [00:43] Debates over E- cigarette's appeal to youths has [00:44] caused some controversy. Public Health England's [00:44] study, however, found an overwhelming majority of [00:45] E- cigarette users are former tobacco users and [00:57] found no evidence that E- cigarettes lead children to [00:59] smoke regular tobacco. But a Centers for Disease [01:02] Control. Prevention study, published earlier this year, [01:05] found e- cigarettes had become the most used [01:08] tobacco product among high schoolers. And almost [01:10] half of all middle and high school students who [01:13] smoked one type of tobacco product used multiple [01:16] types. Critics worry that steps to increase e- cigarettes [01:18] popularity with adults will translate to an increase in [01:19] use among children. Both e- cigarettes and [01:23] regular cigarettes can contain nicotine. Fears about a [01:27] younger group starting that addiction may hold back [01:30] measures helping older generations to quit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/"},"headline":"Daily E-Cigarette Use Can Help Smokers Quit, According to One of the Most Comprehensive Studies Yet","datePublished":"2019-07-24T17:10:40.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:25:09.000Z","description":"But the debate continues","url":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/","keywords":["Public Health","Smoking"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36c530cfb3f17f/698a005b7cdbacb858d6109b/e-cigarettes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36c530cfb3f17f/698a005b7cdbacb858d6109b/e-cigarettes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"E-cigarette use","caption":"E-cigarette use","creditText":"EVA HAMBACH—AFP/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":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/","name":"Daily E-Cigarette Use Can Help Smokers Quit, According to One of the Most Comprehensive Studies Yet"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"So, E-Cigs Might Be Way Less Harmful Than Actual Cigarettes","description":"A study says electronic cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes and advocates promotion of e-cigarettes as a way to help people quit.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JVvlZ8r7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-19T14:35:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JVvlZ8r7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/","duration":"PT1M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5633554/e-cigarettes-smokers-quit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```