Could this CDC recommendation set smokers up for failure?

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has suggested that struggling smokers may be better off switching to a vape pen. (As long as they don’t pick up cigarettes again.)  

So you can just imagine why so many smokers have counted on e-cigarettes as a “safe” alternative to tobacco in their effort to quit. 

But, as I reported last week, that couldn’t be further from the truth! 

Not only do e-cigarettes carry risks of their own, but research suggests that they aren’t even an effective tool for quitting smoking in the first place… 

A higher risk of relapse 

In a new study, published last month in JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at data from 13,604 participants of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH). This research followed smokers for two years between 2013 and 2015 to analyze changes in tobacco use.   

After the first annual follow up, nearly ten percent of the smokers had quit smoking cigarettes. Nearly 63 percent stayed tobacco-free, while the rest switched to another form of tobacco use. Of these, nearly 23 percent had switched to e-cigarettes—with more than 17 percent of these subjects vaping daily. 

The ultimate goal of the study was to see whether former smokers who had pivoted to e-cigarettes were less likely to return to smoking tobacco cigarettes. And here’s what the researchers found… 

Ultimately, former smokers who had switched to e-cigarettes or other forms of tobacco were 8.5 percent more likely to relapse than subjects who quit cold turkey. Half of the recent former smokers who gave up tobacco completely managed to stay off cigarettes for a year or longer—versus only 41 percent of the former smokers who switched to vaping.  

In other words, switching to e-cigarettes makes you more likely—not less likely—to start smoking again.  

Get serious with supplements 

The fact is, if you’re really serious about getting healthy, you need to quit cigarettes head on, no exceptions. And research shows that one of the best tools to help you do just that is with a supplement you should be taking every day, anyway. 

I’m talking about fish oil. 

You see, low levels of critical omega-3 fatty acids (like EPA and DHA) interfere with your brain’s reward and dependence mechanisms—essentially amplifying addictive cravings. Low levels of EPA and DHA also erode your mental health and make it harder for you to cope with stress. 

So you can just imagine what this does to someone who’s trying to quit smoking. 

But one randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial showed that smokers who took 2,710 mg of EPA and 2,040 mg of DHA every day for a month reported significant decreases in both daily smoking and tobacco cravings. And these benefits lasted, even in the month after treatment with EPA and DHA stopped. 

So if you’re a smoker that’s struggling to quit, pick up a high-quality fish oil supplement today. (This study featured a higher dosage, but I typically recommend one that contains at least 3,000 mg of DHA and EPA per day.) 

Of course, you should also lace up your sneakers to help reduce withdrawal symptom severity, as I report in detail in the February 2020 issue of my monthly Logical Health Alternatives newsletter (“Put down that cigarette and vape pen once and for all!”). Not yet a subscriber? Click here to become one. 

After all, you have nothing to lose. And a lifetime of health and freedom to gain. 

Source: 

“E-cigarettes don’t help smokers stay off cigarettes, study suggests: Cigarette smokers who quit smoking but substitute e-cigarettes, or other tobacco product, are more likely to relapse, study finds.” Science Daily, 10/19/2021. (sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211019120109.htm)