The findings were published in BioMed Central's Public Health Journal, with scientists who carried out the research calling for greater restrictions on access to e-cigarettes.
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Researchers are worried the "normalised" smoking alternative may act as a gateway to real cigarettes as it mimics the effect and still retains the addictive effect of nicotine.
"This is just being drawn into a repertoire - another drug that people can use to experiment with rather than being seen as an alternative to tobacco."
He also added they were "providing a concentrated form of a highly addictive substance, with known problems associated with it, and we need to be very cautious about that and how we protect our young people."
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Dr John Middleton, of the Faculty of Public Health, said: "We need to protect children and young people from the harms of nicotine by regulating electronic cigarettes.
"Our concern is that if we wait for proof that electronic cigarettes could act as a gateway to smoking cigarettes, it will already have happened and the tobacco industry will have been given the opportunity to recruit its next generation of smokers."
They provide a mist of nicotine, a highly addictive substance which can increase blood pressure and heart rate, and can have detrimental effects on the brain development of unborn children.
5 Important Lessons From The Biggest E-Cigarette Study
Some youth have their first taste of nicotine via e-cigarettes.(01 of05)
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Twenty percent of middle schoolers and 7.2 percent of high schooler e-cigarette users in the U.S. report never smoking cigarettes. (credit:Gettystock)
Nicotine absorption varies too much between brands.(02 of05)
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Early 2010 studies found that users got much lower levels of nicotine from e-cigarettes than from conventional cigarettes, but more recent studies show that experienced e-cigarette users can draw levels of nicotine from an e-cigarette that are similar to conventional cigarettes. Yet another study noted that the chosen e-cigarettes for the research malfunctioned for a third of participants. UCSF researchers say this indicates the need for stronger product standards and regulations. (credit:Gettystock)
Just because particulate matter from e-cigarettes isn't well studied, doesn't mean it's safe.(03 of05)
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To deliver nicotine, e-cigarettes create a spray of very fine particles that have yet to be studied in depth. "It is not clear whether the ultra-fine particles delivered by e-cigarettes have health effects and toxicity similar to the ambient fine particles generated by conventional cigarette smoke or secondhand smoke," wrote the researchers. But we do know that fine particulate matter from cigarettes and from air pollution are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. And some research has found that the size and spray of fine particulate matter from e-cigarettes is just as great or greater than conventional cigarettes. (credit:Gettystock)
Major tobacco companies have acquired or produced their own e-cigarette products.(04 of05)
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They're promoting the products as "harm reduction" for smokers, which allows them to protect their cigarette market while promoting a new product. Companies also using "grassroots" tactics to form seemingly independent smokers' rights groups, just like they did for cigarettes in the 1980s. (credit:Gettystock )
So far, e-cigarette use is not associated with the successful quitting of conventional cigarettes.(05 of05)
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One clinical trial found that e-cigarettes was no more effective than the nicotine patch at helping people quit, and both cessation methods "produced very modest quit rates without counseling." (credit:Gettystock )