Vaping warning as one flavour can damage lungs ‘more than others’

13 April 2023 , 11:55

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Around 3.2 million adults in the UK reported to use e-cigarettes

One million smokers will be offered vape starter kits as part of a ‘swap to stop’ programme to make the nation ‘smoke-free’ .

The E-cigarettes will be offered to almost one in five of all users across England as part of a government initiative to get smoking below five percent by 2030. Health minister Neil O’Brien launched the “first of its kind” scheme on April 11, adding: “Up to two out of three lifelong smokers will die from smoking. We will work with councils and others to offer a million smokers across England a free vaping starter kit.”

Although vaping is not known to be free of risk, health authorities assess it has just 5 percent of the risk of tobacco smoking - which is still the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death. Vapes do not contain harmful tobacco, however they do feature addictive nicotine.

Under the new scheme, a choice of products, strengths and flavours will be available. But scientists have warned that one flavour may pose more risks than any other variation.

A recent study has found that mint-flavour vapes damage lungs more than any other flavour. This is because it produces more toxic microparticles compared to menthol-free liquids.

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Vaping warning as one flavour can damage lungs ‘more than others’

One million smokers will be offered vape starter kits (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Published in the journal Respiratory Research, the research highlighted that those using mint vapes took shallower breaths and had poorer lung function than other smokers. This was regardless of how long they smoked cigarettes, whether they used cannabis-laced vaping products, and their age, gender, and race.

Scientists said the minty flavour could be as harmful as cannabinoid vapes which have been strongly linked to lung injury. This comes as the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) have urged cigarette manufacturers to ban menthol in regular tobacco products including cigarettes and cigars.

Vaping has risen rapidly in recent years, with a staggering 3.2 million adults in the UK reported to use devices. Senior author Professor Kambez Benam, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, warned: “Many people, especially youth, erroneously assume that vaping is safe, but even nicotine-free vaping mixtures contain many compounds that can potentially damage the lungs.

“Just because something is safe to consume as food does not mean that it’s safe to inhale. The main message that we want to put out there is for people, especially young adults, who haven’t smoked before.”

He added: “Switching to e-cigarettes may be a better, safer alternative for someone who is trying to quit smoking regular tobacco products. But it’s important to have full knowledge of e-cigarettes’ risks and benefits before trying them.”

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh developed a “vaping robot” to monitor the health-effects of different flavours.

The impressive invention was able to precisely mimic the temperature, humidity, puff volume and duration. In doing so, the bot simulates healthy and diseased breathing patterns to reliably predict just how toxic each e-cigarette is for the lungs.

The robot could measure the size and number of vape particles, and how these may differ from flavour to flavour. The vape-particle numbers can then be engineered and applied to model lungs - or “lung-on-chip” devices - to quickly yield high-quality data indicating potential toxicity.

Scientists have warned the minty flavour could be as harmful as cannabinoid vapes (Getty Images)

In the past, the research team identified vitamin E acetate, a common additive in cannabinoid e-cigarette liquids, generates more toxic small particles. These particles can travel deep inside the lung and wedge themselves in the narrowest airways and lining of the walls of the trachea and bronchus.

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This study concluded that menthol additives could be just as dangerous as vitamin E acetate - strongly linked with lung injury in e-cigarette and vape users.

Possible side effects of vaping

E-cigarettes are often touted as a safer option to smoking - but the long-term effects have been explored in medical journals. Research published in the Journal of Radiology Nursing in 2020 detailed how a teenager had succumbed to E-cigarette, or Vaping Product, Use Associated Lung Injury, which is more commonly known as EVALI, after months of vaping.

The report added: "A previously healthy 16-year-old male presented with progressive shortness of breath, cough, and hypoxemia [low level of oxygen in the blood] in the setting of several months of daily nicotine and THC-containing e-cigarette use. He had been suffering from a chronic cough and intermittent nausea since he started vaping several months before presentation.”

It explained: "His cough worsened one week before admission to our hospital, accompanied by post-tussive emesis [vomiting induced by coughing] and non-bloody diarrhoea."

E-cigarettes are often touted as a safer option to smoking (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Concerningly, it stated that as of 2019 more than 2,000 cases, including more than 60 deaths, of lung injury associated with electronic nicotine and marijuana delivery systems in the US were reported to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 15 percent of these patients were under the age of 18. The study wrote: "EVALI has emerged as a public health threat, making it crucial for the health-care community to promptly recognise and manage this condition."

According to Yale Medicine, common symptoms of EVALI include: