For Smokers Trying to Quit, Vaping May Work Better Than Patches or Gum

You Should Know: Vaping has a pretty bad health reputation — understandably. But a new Cochrane review suggests there’s one place where nicotine vapes may have an edge: helping people quit smoking. Researchers analyzed 80 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 30,000 smokers and found that nicotine e-cigarettes helped more people quit than traditional nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches and gum.

Going Deeper: The difference wasn’t enormous, but it was meaningful. The results, in absolute terms, showed that roughly four additional people out of every 100 could quit smoking with nicotine e-cigarettes compared with patches or gum. That doesn’t make vaping “healthy,” though. The review looked at whether people stopped smoking, not whether they eventually stopped vaping or broke their nicotine dependence. And while no serious short-term harms emerged in the review, researchers say we still need larger, longer studies to understand vaping’s long-term effects.

Takeaway: For someone who already smokes, switching completely to nicotine vaping may be a more effective quit strategy than patches or gum, and possibly less harmful than continuing to smoke. But vaping still exposes the body to potentially harmful substances.

Bottom Line: Vaping isn’t harmless, but for smokers trying to quit, it could be a useful tool.