An upsurge in flavored e-cigarettes use among US teens occurred between 2011 and 2018. The growing popularity of vaping among US youth is due to increased use of flavored tobacco products, a new study claims.
Tobacco use, in general, appears to be fading among American students. However, that is not the case with the use of “flavored” tobacco products. Among adolescents who use flavored tobacco, the proportion has surged from 57.7% in 2016 to 63.6% in 2017.
Experts say that as flavor use in tobacco products reduced, the use of flavored e-cigarettes increased. Nevertheless, one should remember that no form of tobacco is good for adolescents.
Large US tobacco companies have started developing e-cigarettes due to their increased demand.
Even though e-cigarettes do not contain nicotine, the flavoring chemicals can affect the lungs when the vapors are inhaled. In fact, studies have found that inhaling vapor containing flavors and chemicals may damage the lungs, heart, and blood vessels.
The recent study included above 75,000 participants between 2014 and 2017, in the National Youth Tobacco Survey.
During the study period, there was not much change in the proportion of youth smoking menthol-flavored e-cigarettes. In the meantime, e-cigarette use declined slightly but then increased later in the study. However, the popularity of other flavored tobacco products such as cigars, hookah, and chewing tobacco leveled off.
The surge in the proportion of flavored tobacco use between 2016 and 2017 was due to increase in flavored e-cigarette use.
However, the study did not look at the changes in vaping habits or use of flavorless tobacco might affect health during adolescence or later in life. It also does not help answer a question about vaping – whether flavored e-cigarettes help chronic smokers to quit or prevent people from smoking in the first place.
Still, the findings suggest that vaping is getting increasingly popular among teens. The use of flavored tobacco products such as flavored e-liquid is on the rise.
Researchers said that vaping rates have declined a bit as several studies have found the link between certain flavors and specific health problems. For instance, butter flavorings were tied to so-called popcorn lung and cinnamon flavorings to lung injury, causing shortness of breath.
One of the brands of e-cigarettes, Juul, offered a range of flavors such as mango, cucumber, and fruit, which have attracted many teenagers. However, late last year, Juul pulled a few popular flavors from retail stores in an effort to reduce the use of the products among teens.
The study found that the main reason behind the growing popularity of e-cigarettes is the flavors that attract teenagers toward e-liquids. One of the experts said that whether the new generation of flavored e-cigarettes will increase or decrease is still doubtful. It may take several years to determine the true outcome. Also, it may take some time to see whether the current epidemic of vaping will bring on a new change in smoking onset and nicotine addiction.
