A large United Kingdom medical group has urged smokers to make the switch from traditional cigarettes to e-cigs arguing that it could help generations of tobacco addicts to quit smoking. This differs from most United States public health officials that have not given e-cigarettes a green light.

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The doctors' recommendation was made in a report published on April 21, Thursday by the Royal College of Physicians.  

Researchers argue that a growing amount of medical research shows that e-cigarettes have more benefits than drawbacks, according to The New York Times. The medical organization concludes that the smoking devices provide more help than harm, and have not caused young people to start smoking tobacco cigarettes later.

John Britton is director of the UK Center for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at England's University of Nottingham. The head of the committee that wrote the report argued that e-cigarettes are the first true method in decades to help people stop smoking. He wrote that electronic cigarettes could help at least half of smokers to put out their last cigarette.

E-cigs provide nicotine without tar and harmful chemicals that are cancer-causing. 

The US public health community has not taken such a positive stand on e-cigs. However, some health officials have argued the devices could help the US's 40 million cigarette addicts to quit.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) has said vaping could cause long-term health problems. The CDC has also stated that smoking e-cigarettes could make it harder for tobacco smokers to quit, or even cause children to start smoking traditional cigarettes.

In addition, University of California (UC) professor of medicine Stanton A. Glantz argues that the UK medical group is making a major mistake. He believes their support for e-cigarettes is a big "experiment" that could have a negative effect on England's public health within five years.

UK doctors can legally prescribe e-cigarettes if the devices have been licensed as an aid to quit smoking, according to BBC. However, the process is strictly regulated. Most e-cig manufacturers avoid the rigmarole and instead sell their smoking products to give customers the chance to puff on tobacco-free nicotine smokes.

Here are some foods to help quit smoking: