Electronic cigarette use among teens more than doubled in the last year, according to a new government study, prompting concern from health officials who say the effects of long-term use of the products is still unknown.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 4.7 percent of high-schoolers said they had used an e-cigarette in 2011, and that number rose to 10 percent in 2012.


E-cigarettes are controversial. Some say they can be a useful tool for smokers looking to quit cigarettes[1] because they provide vaporized nicotine to the user without the toxic chemicals that come from real cigarette smoke. But public health experts point out that there's no evidence of the safety of using electronic cigarettes. They also worry that e-cigarettes could be a "gateway"[2] to using traditional tobacco products.


"The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., in a statement accompanying the study. "Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."


The report showed an connection between using electronic cigarettes and using conventional cigarettes among youths. Specifically, 76.3 percent of middle- and high-schoolers who reported using an e-cigarette in the last month also said that they had smoked a regular cigarette in that same time period. Among middle-schoolers, four in five who had tried an e-cigarette at least once said they had also tried a regular cigarette.


In total, the report showed that 1.78 million middle- and high-schoolers had tried an electronic cigarette at least once last year.


Unlike traditional tobacco products, the Food and Drug Administration does not yet regulate electronic cigarettes[3] , though it has said that it plans to in the future. Because there is no official regulation yet, no minimum age to buy the products has been set, though the Wall Street Journal reported that the FDA is discussing whether to make the minimum purchasing age 18 or 19[4] , as well as whether to ban online sales.



There is not much safety information available on e-cigarettes. Past research has suggested that electronic cigarettes don't seem to have any negative effects on the heart[5] . However, the FDA did find in a 2009 lab analysis that some e-cigarettes do contain carcinogens[6] , as well as a chemical called diethylene glycol that is also found in anti-freeze. And another recent study suggested e-cigarettes could harm the lungs[7] by increasing airway resistance.



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  • Mindfulness


    Mindfulness training helped participants in a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21723049" target="_hplink">2011 <em>Drug and Alcohol Dependence</em> study</a> to stay off cigarettes.

    That study included 88 people who smoked 20 cigarettes daily, on average, who were split up into two groups: One received four weeks of mindfulness training, while the other group went through four weeks of an <a href="http://www.ffsonline.org/" target="_hplink">American Lung Association stop-smoking program</a>.

    The researchers found that more of those who went through the mindfulness training smoked fewer cigarettes -- and stayed off them -- than those who went through the other stop-smoking program.

    The mindfulness training included <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minding-the-body/201204/can-mindfulness-help-you-quit-smoking" target="_hplink">realizing when you're facing a craving</a>, accepting it, thinking about what's happening and then taking note of the sensation (whether it's tightness or pressure), <em>Psychology Today</em> reported.




  • Weight Lifting


    Jogging and bicycling aren't the only exercises that could help you kick the smoking habit -- <em>Shape</em> magazine reported that <a href="http://www.shape.com/latest-news-trends/study-says-weight-lifting-can-help-smokers-quit-and-lose-weight" target="_hplink">weightlifting could help</a>, too.

    The research, published in the journal <em>Nicotine & Tobacco Research</em>, showed that doing two hour-long weightlifting sessions for 12 weeks <em>plus</em> undergoing treatment to quit smoking was linked with greater success in quitting smoking, compared with just undergoing the stop-smoking treatment.




  • Eat Produce


    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/10/fruits-vegetables-quit-smoking-smokers-tobacco_n_1581465.html" target="_hplink">Eating lots of fruits and veggies</a> could help smokers maintain a tobacco-free lifestyle, according to research from the University of Buffalo.

    The study, published in the journal <em>Nicotine and Tobacco Research</em>, included 1,000 smokers ages 25 and older. The researchers had the participants answer surveys about their smoking habits and their fruit and vegetable intake. Then, they followed up with them 14 months later and asked them if they used tobacco over the past month.

    The researchers found that there was a relationship between the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/10/fruits-vegetables-quit-smoking-smokers-tobacco_n_1581465.html" target="_hplink">amount of fruits and vegetables</a> the study participants ate, and the likelihood that they quit -- and stayed off -- tobacco. In fact, people who ate the most produce in the study were three times more likely to report that they'd been tobacco free in the previous month.

    The researchers also found a link between increased produce consumption and taking longer in the day to have the first cigarette, smoking fewer cigarettes, and decreased dependence on nicotine (based on test results).




  • Acupuncture And Hypnosis


    A review of studies suggests there is evidence that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/acupuncture-quit-smoking-hypnosis_n_1497348.html" target="_hplink">acupuncture and hypnosis</a> can work to help quit smoking, Reuters reported.

    Researchers, who published their findings in the <em>American Journal of Medicine</em>, said that other options -- like medications and counseling -- should be tried first, but that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/11/hypnosis-quit-smoking_n_1248444.html" target="_hplink">hypnosis</a> and acupuncture could help if those options don't work, or if people don't want to go on medications, according to Reuters.




  • Text Messages


    Who knew your phone could be used to help you quit smoking?

    A recent study published in the <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60701-0/abstract" target="_hplink">journal <em>The Lancet</em></a> showed that smokers who enrolled in a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/05/smoking-text-message_n_888188.html" target="_hplink">program called "txt2stop"</a> -- where they received encouraging text messages to quit smoking -- were twice as likely to kick the habit after six months, compared with smokers who didn't get any encouraging messages.

    In the study, conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, one group was able to text words like "lapse" and "crave" to a phone number, and <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20075843-247/want-to-quit-smoking-try-text-message-support/" target="_hplink">received an encouraging text</a> message in return, CNET reported. The other group of people, however, only got one text message every two weeks, and that message just thanked them for being part of the study.




  • Quitting Smoking And Health


    Eletta Hansen explains some facts about smoking, and discusses if your body gets healthier after you quit smoking