Vaping E-cigarettes Has An “Astounding” Anti-aging Effect

On February 17, 2023, a paper published by the internationally renowned academic journal “Nature Communications” pointed out that nicotine has a systemic anti-aging effect, and long-term intake of low-dose nicotine can effectively delay aging.

The study was led by the Advanced Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenzhen. It mainly analyzed the effect of nicotine on the anti-aging substance NAD+ (oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) in the human body. NAD+ plays a key role in maintaining cell vitality and is known as the global popular anti-aging product NMN, which is called the “elixir of youth” through increasing NAD+ levels inside the cell to reverse aging.

There is a core indicator for measuring NAD+ levels: NAMPT activity. The higher the NAMPT activity, the more stable the NAD+ level and the more “anti-aging” it is. In animal experiments, the NAMPT activity of mice decreases with age. However, after taking trace amounts of nicotine for 6-12 months, the NAMPT activity in all tissues such as hippocampus, heart, muscle, and kidney of mice has been significantly restored, especially in the heart.

“We found that nicotine has an astounding direct effect in increasing NAD+ levels,” the author wrote in the paper. This means that nicotine has a systemic anti-aging effect and can significantly reduce the symptoms of aging in tissues such as the brain and heart.

Of particular note is the beneficial effect of nicotine on the brain. The researchers found in multiple tests that long-term intake of trace amounts of nicotine can effectively relieve anxiety in older mice, protect memory, and improve cognitive impairment. Nicotine can also increase the level of NMN in the brain of older mice, thereby reducing their risk of developing brain cancer.

However, to exert the anti-aging effect of nicotine, both “long-term” and “trace amount” are necessary. In the experiment, mice took nicotine for at least 6 months, which is long enough according to their average lifespan (2 years). Evidence for “trace amount” is more direct: data shows that long-term intake of 10ng/mL of nicotine can significantly increase NAD+ levels.

For example, e-cigarettes with lower nicotine content may help users delay aging, while cigarettes with higher nicotine content may not be effective and may even have the opposite effect. Even without considering the issue of anti-aging, the harm of cigarettes far outweighs that of e-cigarettes. Data from multiple global studies show that cigarettes contain 69 carcinogens such as nitrosamines, formaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzopyrene (A), most of which are in the tar and smoke produced by combustion. In contrast, e-cigarettes without the tobacco combustion process can reduce 95% of the harm caused by cigarettes.

A study published in the journal “JAMA Network Open” in February 2021 pointed out that e-cigarettes have a harm-reducing effect. When smokers completely switch to e-cigarettes, their physical health will improve. On the contrary, when e-cigarette users switch back to cigarettes, the concentration of many carcinogenic metabolites in their urine will significantly increase, up to 621%.

“Our research confirms that e-cigarettes can play a positive role in public health,” said Neal L Benowitz, one of the main authors of the paper and a smoking cessation expert. He hopes that smokers can have a more comprehensive understanding of the harm-reducing effect of e-cigarettes: “If you want to improve your physical health and can’t quit cigarettes, just switch to e-cigarettes completely.”