“An exotic fusion of pineapple and coconut with champagne infused blueberries.” “Creamy milk chocolate and rich peanut butter flavors.” No, these are not excerpts from the dessert menu at a fancy hotel.They’re some of the latest offerings from the makers of vape pens and e-cigarettes—which are the same thing, more or less.As e-cigs gain traction (sales are expected to soar seventeenfold over the next 15 years), manufacturers are having a heyday concocting flavors that can be inhaled—an estimated 7,000 to date.Public health experts warn of the addictive nicotine in e-cigs and vaping fluids, and their potential to serve as a “gateway” to tobacco, especially for teens.But a new Harvard study instead took a hard look at those tantalizing flavors—and found that a majority, at least of the samples tested, contained chemicals linked to a dangerous lung disease.Researchers at Harvard’s T.H.Chan School of Public Health analyzed various e-cig and vape pen liquids for the presence of three related chemicals—diacetyl, 2,3-pentanedione, and acetoin—that are also used in artificial butter flavorings.

By the turn of the 21st century, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had deemed diacetyl safe to eat, but little was known about what happened when a person inhales it.Then, in the early 2000s, workers at several plants that manufacture microwave popcorn came down with a nasty lung disease after prolonged exposure to the fake-butter fumes.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated cases of this so-called popcorn lung and later released guidelines for dealing with diacetyl in the workplace, along with a list of foods that contain the chemical.baby vaporiser asda“Current evidence points to diacetyl as one agent that can cause flavorings-related lung disease,” notes the CDC’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.da vinci vaporizer anwendung

NIOSH says it is uncertain whether the other two compounds pose health risks, but it points out their chemical similarities to diacetyl.Now the popcorn-lung chemicals are turning up in vape pens.The Harvard researchers tested 51 e-cigarette flavorings they deemed appealing to youths—think “Cupcake” and “Alien Blood”—and found diacetyl in 37 of them.At least one of the three suspect chemicals was present in 47 of the 51 samples.The researchers could not determine conclusively that using an e-cig flavored with these chemicals is harmful.vp800 vaporizerBut they pointed out that “the heating, vaporization, and subsequent inhalation” creates “an exposure pathway” similar to that of the microwave popcorn workers.vaporizer bag vs whipTwo of the flavors tested—”menthol” and “tobacco”—do not appear on the OSHA’s list of flavors likely to contain diacetyl.volcano vaporizer base

Since they landed on the market in 2004, e-cigarettes and vape pens have been dogged by controversy.Fans claim they are far less toxic than regular cigarettes and might even help tobacco smokers quit.Public health officials counter that it’s too early to know very much about e-cigs’ health effects, especially on young people.(Their use among teens tripled from 2013 to 2014.)At least 43 states have placed age restrictions on the sale or possession of the products.fuzion vaporizer avr 320The FDA does not currently regulate e-cigarettes—it has stalled for years in proceeding with proposed rules that would allow it to regulate the devices as tobacco products.But given the new findings, the agency may want to take a closer look at the sweet flavors that make the nicotine go down.FOR EXPERT ADVICE CUSTOMER CARE Let’s face it—debates over e-cigarettes won’t be over anytime soon.Users (and, of course, manufacturers) say that they are safer than “real” cigarettes and they help people quit smoking.

And unlike the treasure trove of damning health evidence about “real” cigarettes—the latest even adds schizophrenia to the list—research about the health effects of electronic cigarettes is truly in its infancy.But don’t let that fool you, because one thing is becoming clear—inhaling nicotine…along with the other compounds in e-cigarettes such as formaldehyde…is far from harmless for your lungs.We’ve already told you that vaping (inhaling the vapor) causes temporary constriction in the lungs and that the vapor contains carcinogenic nitrosamines, which newer research has confirmed.The latest news: Researchers have shown that vaping may damage the cell barrier that protects the lining of the lungs, called the endothelium.In the study, the researchers exposed human and mouse cells and live mice to an e-cigarette solution that either contained nicotine or was nicotine-free.The result with either solution was not only loss of the endothelial cell barrier, but also lung inflammation and an impairment of cell growth, a sign of cell stress.

It’s just a short-term lab study, to be sure, but if sustained, that kind of damage is associated with risk for lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Note that it wasn’t just the nicotine that caused harm in the study, either.Even the nicotine-free e-cigarette solutions were found to include lung-harming substances, such as the compound acrolein.This substance, which is present in e-cig vapor, damages the endothelial cells in the lungs.SHOULD YOU EVER USE E-CIGARETTES?Such short-term lung damage might be acceptable if we knew that e-cigs help people quit smoking.Some studies have found that they do…others have found they are no help at all.To be fair, there’s no question that vaping is less harmful than inhaling cigarette smoke, which is one of the most toxic substances that humans have ever come to use regularly.Even the biggest opponents of e-cigarettes acknowledge that.So if you switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping e-cigarettes, you’re likely doing less harm to your lungs.