Queen Mary University, London, said they found "no sign" that alternative nicotine products, like vapes, could lead people to smoking.   

They found that vapes could be killing off the cigarette instead.   

Scientists put the trend down to vapes successfully competing against burning tobacco, adding the data is still in its early stages.   

They believe their research could "alleviate concerns" about how readily available vapes are in the UK.   

Australia has banned vapes but researchers at QMU found Australians are taking longer to give up cigarettes than Brits.  

Young people and those in lower socioeconomic groups in Australia are moving away from tobacco at a slower rate than the United States, as well as the UK.   

Traders in Japan also sold significantly fewer cigarettes when they introduced heated tobacco, another smoking alternative.   

Professor Peter Hajek, QMU, said the study so far reveals that e-cigarettes and other nicotine products do not encourage smoking.  

Research shows that Australians are taking up longer to give up smoking than Brits (credit: CDC/ Unsplash).

He said: "There is no sign of that, and there are some signs that they in fact compete against cigarettes, but more data over a longer time period are needed to determine the size of this effect."   

QMU analysed the sales trends of cigarettes and vapes in the UK and US, where vape products are legal. They compared the data with Australia's, where vapes are banned.   

They also studied Swedish trends, where oral nicotine pouches are popular, and Japan and South Korea's, where people use heated tobacco products.   

Co-author, Professor Lion Shahab, Co-Director of the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said that despite the "adoption" of e-cigarettes in some of the countries studied, it has not hugely impacted smoking rates.   

He said: "If anything, the results suggest that - more likely than not - e-cigarettes have displaced harmful cigarettes in those countries so far.   

"However, as this is a fast moving field, with new technologies entering the market every year, it remains important to continue monitoring national data."   

The team said people often use vapes as well as cigarettes, meaning the data overlaps.   

As a result, they need more time and sales data to conclude whether people are ditching cigarettes to exclusively vapes.   

Discussing the study published in Public Health Research, Professor Brian Ferguson, Director of the Public Health Research Programme (NIHR) believes that the research is helpful, despite being in the early stages.   

He said: "The initial findings from this study are valuable but no firm conclusions can be drawn yet.  

"More research is needed in this area to understand further the impact that alternative nicotine delivery products, such as e-cigarettes, might have on smoking rates."