E-cigarettes putting your heart at risk

While "vaping" has been seen as a healthier alternative to smoking, a new study has provided more evidence on the potential harmful effects of e-cigarettes.

A University of Louisville researcher Daniel J. Conklin will discuss his early research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting.

Conklin will share new data showing that e-cigarettes have been shown to speed up atherosclerosis - the plaque-causing disease that leads to heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease.

When atherosclerosis affects the arteries of the heart, it is known as coronary artery disease, a condition that affects more than 15 million Americans and causes 500,000 deaths annually.

"Currently, we do not know whether e-cigarettes are harmful," Conklin said. "They do not generate smoke as do conventional cigarettes but they do generate an aerosol - the vapor - that alters indoor air quality and contains toxic aldehydes. We investigated the direct effects of these toxins on cardiovascular disease in the laboratory."

He noted that these findings indicate that multiple tobacco-derived constituents have cardiovascular disease-causing potential.