Health

Study: Vaping Shows Similar Fitness Effects to Smoking

Is vaping just as damaging to young adults' fitness as smoking or is treating them as equal risks a public health mistake?

Published JUL 14

Study: Vaping Shows Similar Fitness Effects to Smoking

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Above: A 12-year-old schoolboy holds a single-use vape in the U.K., on June 24, 2025. Image credit: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

Vaping is essentially just as damaging to young adults' fitness as smoking. The U.K. study found both groups suffered a 15% drop in exercise capacity, worse lung efficiency and inflamed blood vessels compared to non-users. These aren't minor side effects, and vapers showed the same reduced oxygen uptake and faster lactic acid buildup as smokers. Treating vapes as a harmless alternative ignores hard physiological evidence.

People Female First

Narrative B

This study does not prove vaping is as harmful as smoking, and treating the two as equal risks could hurt public health. While young vapers showed reduced fitness compared with non-users, cigarettes remain far more damaging overall, with decades of evidence linking them to diseases like cancer. Overstating vaping harms risks discouraging smokers from switching to a much safer alternative and pushing people back toward the habit that kills millions.

Guardian Our World in Data Cancer Research UK