Vaping helps 50,000 smokers give up cigarettes each year, study shows

Vaping has helped tens of thousands of smokers give up cigarettes every year, new research has found.

A study found that more people were turning to e-cigarettes than in 2011, with more also successfully packing in regular cigarettes.

Researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK, said by switching to vapes more than 50,000 smokers have quit each year.

They said when the increase in the use of e-cigarettes flattened off around 2015, so did the increase in quitting success rates.

The team, from University College London, estimated that, in 2017, 50,700 people in England reported they were no longer smoking after using e-cigarettes to help them quit.

The study used data on more than 50,000 people between 2006 and 2017 from the Smoking Toolkit Study, a series of monthly household surveys of people aged 16 and over in England.

Lead author Dr Emma Beard, senior research associate at UCL, said: "This study builds on population surveys and clinical trials that find e-cigarettes can help smokers to stop.

"England seems to have found a sensible balance between regulation and promotion of e-cigarettes.

"Marketing is tightly controlled so we are seeing very little use of e-cigarettes by never-smokers of any age, while millions of smokers are using them to try to stop smoking or to cut down the amount they smoke."

George Butterworth, Cancer Research UK senior policy manager, said: "E-cigarettes are a relatively new product, they aren't risk-free and we don't yet know their long-term impact.

"We strongly discourage non-smokers from using them.

"But research so far shows that vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco and can help people to stop smoking, so it's good that over 50,000 people managed to give up in 2017.

"For the best chance of quitting, get support from a stop smoking service, who can help you find the right tools for you."

Vaping is dividing health experts, with Public Health England (PHE) saying e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than regular cigarettes.

But some researchers say PHE is wilfully ignoring mounting evidence that vaping is harmful.

The latest study was published in the journal Addiction.