A ‘game-changing’ anti-smoking pill set to be rolled out on the NHS could be the best way to help quit vaping, research has suggested.
Britons are taking up vaping in unprecedented numbers, with roughly one in ten adults now estimated to be hooked on the habit.
Yet, while vapes are generally considered safer than cigarettes and a useful tool for quitting smoking, surveys have found around 8 per cent of adult vapers have never even smoked before.
Academics from the US and UK now believe two common tools recommended by health chiefs to quit smoking could prove vital in thwarting the habit.
Their landmark review of nine trials, involving more than 5,000 participants, found the tablet vareniclinen — known as Champix — and text message-based interventions were the most effective.
Experts, who labelled the findings ‘important’, however cautioned further research was still vital before this advice is rolled out more widely.
The daily pill varenicline was first marketed in the UK by Pfizer in 2006.
However, it was withdrawn in 2021 after being found to contain elevated levels of the potentially cancer-causing compound N-nitroso-varenicline.
Britons are taking up vaping in unprecedented numbers, with roughly one in ten adults now estimated to be hooked on the habit
The daily pill was first marketed in the UK by Pfizer in 2006 under the brand name Champix
But the drug, which triples the odds of quitting smoking, will again soon be offered on the NHS but manufactured by different pharmaceutical company Teva UK.
‘This is an area of research that is in its infancy, but is growing rapidly and organically from people who vape asking about help to quit vaping,’ study senior author and assistant professor of health policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, said.
‘We also know that people who use vaping as a way to transition away from smoking are often keen to know how they can safely transition away from vaping without relapsing to smoking, which is really important.’
Dr Ailsa Butler, study lead author and expert in public health policy at the University of Oxford, added: ‘With the results of our Cochrane review, healthcare professionals now have initial evidence for specific approaches they can recommend, particularly for younger people wanting to quit vaping.
‘However, we urgently need more research to explore these and other approaches.’
E-cigs allow people to inhale nicotine in a vapour — which is produced by heating a liquid, which typically contains propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings, and other chemicals.
Unlike traditional cigarettes, they do not contain tobacco, nor do they produce tar or carbon — two of the most dangerous elements.
Nicotine’s effect on the brain is well known — within 20 seconds of inhalation, it triggers the release of chemical messengers such as dopamine, associated with reward and pleasure.
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Campaigners have long blamed predatory manufacturers for the ever-growing crisis, claiming they are intentionally luring kids in with colourful packaging, compared to highlighter pens, and child-friendly flavours such as bubblegum and cotton candy
But it also increases heart rate and blood pressure and makes blood vessels constrict. This is because nicotine triggers the release of the hormone adrenaline.
Despite NHS chiefs insisting it is safer than smoking, vaping is not risk-free. E-cigarettes contain harmful toxins and their long-term effects remains a mystery.
Experts are concerned the high nicotine content might increase blood pressure and cause other heart problems.
Doctors have expressed fears there could be a wave of lung disease, dental issues and even cancer in the coming decades in people who took up the habit at a young age.
In the study, varenicline was found to be ‘potentially effective for adults trying to quit vaping’, researchers said.
However, due to the limited number of studies assessing its impact on vaping specifically, further research is vital.
Scientists also found that programmes designed to deliver support via text messages appeared to be particularly effective for young people aged 13 to 24.
‘The interventions tested are similar to those that we know work for helping people quit smoking,’ Professor Hartmann-Boyce said.
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‘We don’t know, however, that they necessarily help people quit vaping, and that’s why it’s important that we have these trials.’
Last April, one shock study warned that e-cigarettes may raise the risk of heart failure.
Another suggested vaping triggers cell changes which may go on to cause cancer.
Last year, MailOnline also discovered the number of adverse side effects linked to vaping reported to UK regulators has now eclipsed 1,000, with five of them fatal.
The extensive list includes everything from headaches to strokes. Members of the public and medics can submit them.
In July, in world-first guidance setting out possible interventions to help people stop using tobacco products, the World Health Organization labelled the evidence around e-cigarettes as ‘complex’.
Vapes cannot be recommended as way to stop smoking as too little is known about the harms and benefits, the UN agency said.
