Vaping Hurts Your Bone Health More Than You Think

On average, an adult has 206 bones (per WebMD). You might think of bones as rigid beams that keep humans from falling over all of the time. However, bones are an incredibly dynamic part of the human body.

Bones serve a wide range of functions ranging from protecting your soft internal organs and providing structure to keep your body upright, to the housing of certain fats and minerals. The skeletal system can respond to stress by forming new bones, a process called osteogenesis (via StatPearls).

When you break a bone — medically referred to as a fracture — blood clots and new blood vessels kick off the healing process (via WebMD). Next, your broken bone forms a soft then hard callus to fill the gap of the fracture. Finally, your bone remodels itself to return back to normal.

While broken bones can heal, certain lifestyle choices can slow that healing process. For example, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says that a smoker's broken bones can take longer to heal because the cells that form new bones may be negatively impacted by nicotine. Per NBC News, smokers can take up to 62% more time to heal a broken leg compared to non-smokers. 

You might wonder, if smoking cigarettes can hurt your bone health, does vaping have any similar effects? Here's everything you need to know about vaping and bone health.

You might have heard people say that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes, but according to Medical News Today, there is nothing safe or healthy about smoking — or vaping. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that vapes may contain smaller amounts of toxic chemicals when compared to cigarettes. But that does not mean that vapes are not damaging to your bone health.

Smoking can cause bone loss over time (via WebMD). While evidence on vaping and bone health is limited and in its early stages, the findings show a similarly negative outlook.

A 2021 study published in the American Journal of Medicine Open found an association between people who currently or at some point used electronic cigarettes, also known as vapes, and a greater prevalence of fragility fractures — or a broken bone from a fall from no more than standing height (per International Osteoporosis Foundation). Notably, fragility fractures are linked to osteoporosis.

Dr. Dayawa Agoons, the lead author of the study, told U.S. News and World Report, "Electronic cigarettes have a fairly decent amount of nicotine in them. So at this moment, one of our theories is that the same mechanism that happens in conventional cigarette smoking might be happening in electronic cigarettes as well."

Another 2021 study published in the journal of Bone & Joint Research noted that while research on vaping and bone health is limited, the nicotine and other chemicals found in vapes may stunt bone health.