Review of data on chemical content in an aerosol resulting from heating a tobacco or a solution used in e-cigarettes and in the smoke generated from the reference cigarettes

Background The article presents a review of the literature on the chemical composition of smoke generated from a standard cigarette and the aerosol generated after heating tobacco and chemical compounds formed in the aerosol of electronic cigarettes. Methods The literature review was carried out on the PubMed online bibliographic database, Google search engine, Google Scholar based on science articles published in recent 20 years. Results The bibliographic analysis shows that: replacing smoking in the traditional way by heating tobacco modifies significantly the content of chemical substances found in aerosol, the substances found in aerosols generated by e-cigarettes have proven toxic effects, e.g. pro-inflammatory effect on lung epithelial cells (e.g. crotonaldehyde) or a mutagenic effect (e.g. NNK), using e-cigarette aerosol does not rule out a health risk for people, which is not fully recognized at present. Conclusions Replacing smoking in the traditional way by heating tobacco modifies significantly the content of chemical substances found in aerosol. Using e-cigarette aerosol does not rule out a health risk for people, because the substances found in aerosols generated by e-cigarettes have proven toxic effects.

Automated summary

The article reviews the chemical composition of smoke from a standard cigarette, aerosol from heating tobacco, and compounds formed in e-cigarette aerosol. Heating tobacco significantly changes the chemical substances in aerosol, while substances in e-cigarette aerosols have proven toxic effects including pro-inflammatory and mutagenic effects on lung cells. The health risks of using e-cigarette aerosols are not fully recognized at present.