A new study has highlighted how vaping may affect the body, suggesting that some popular flavorings could be linked to greater biological damage.
Because e-cigarettes are relatively new compared with traditional tobacco, researchers still don’t have a clear picture of what vaping does to health over decades of use.
Even so, scientific findings continue to emerge. One of the latest studies, published in Frontiers in Oncology, looked at how different vape flavors may influence the body at a genetic level.
In the research, fruit-flavored options such as mango and watermelon were associated with changes in 31 percent of the genes examined that were impacted in the study.
That figure is likely to raise concern, particularly given the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that no tobacco product is safe—including e-cigarettes.
The health site explains:
“Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and is a health danger for pregnant women, developing fetuses, and youth.
“Aerosol from e-cigarettes can also contain harmful and potentially harmful substances. These include cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into lungs.”
Nicotine—a common ingredient in many vapes—can be particularly risky for younger people. The CDC notes it can “harm brain development which continues until about age 25”.
They add on their site:
“Youth can start showing signs of nicotine addiction quickly, sometimes before the start of regular or daily use. Using nicotine during adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control.”
The CDC also warns that starting to vape during the teen years may increase the likelihood of experiencing substance-use issues later on. It may also raise the chance of moving on to smoking cigarettes compared with people who never vape.
Professor Freddy Sitas, a co-author of a University of New South Wales (Sydney) study into vaping’s impacts, has also cautioned against using vaping as a straightforward substitute for smoking.
“It took about 100 years for the evidence to be conclusive enough to say that smoking causes lung cancer, and the history of events evolved over time as people became more and more exposed to tobacco,” he said.
“And we are seeing a similar evolution with e-cigarettes.”
He also argued that public health efforts should focus on earlier intervention to help people stop vaping before patterns become more entrenched.
“There is a window of opportunity now to be able to discern these effects and now is the time to be proactive rather than reactive,” he added.