VITAMIN vapes that claim give you a ‘healthy’ energy boost could do you more harm than good, experts claim.
The devices typically contain e-liquid laced with nicotine.
But so-called ‘wellness vapes’ have also grown in popularity, containing vitamins, essential oils or caffeine.
Vapes, touted as a healthier alternative to cigarettes, have recently been shrouded in controversy as the government moves to ban fun-flavoured disposable devices to stop teens getting addicted.
The gadgets have also been linked to a variety of health issues, including tooth decay and heart and lung disease.
Despite ‘wellness vapes’ being marketed as ‘health-boosting’ or ‘energy-dosing’, experts have warned that these supposedly healthier devices could come with serious risks.
Users are at risk of developing painful lung damage that could lead to scarring.
Dr Timothy Allen, chair of pathology at Corewell Health East, told DailyMail.com that, in fact, no vaping is safe.
“There are carriers or supplements in the vape that could be a direct cause of harm.’
“Wellness vaping is just a gimmick. It’s just a plot to suggest there are benefits to vaping even though there are no studies showing such an effect exists.”
Popular additives to these supposedly healthier vapes are substances like essential oils and vitamin B12 – a nutrient that helps your body make red blood cells, among other functions.
Dr Aaron Weiner, a clinical psychologist and addiction specialist in Illinois, told DailyMail.com your lungs are primarily designed to absorb oxygen.
“As soon as you start putting other things in there, you don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
Dr Weiner pointed to vitamin E, a nutrient found in dark leafy greens, whole grains, oils, and fruits.
But a form of this known as vitamin E acetate, however, has been found in nicotine and non-nicotine vapes and linked to to e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury, known as EVALI.
This is a type of lung disease that can develop due to vaping and can be permanent.
According to the American Lung Association, symptoms can be similar to other respiratory diseases.
They include:
- Shortness of breath
- Fever and chills
- A cough
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- A headache
- Dizziness
- A rapid heart rate and chest pain
As such, Dr Weiner said vitamin E is safe to eat, but not to breathe.
Another vitamin added to vapes that’s come under fire is vitamin B12.
Writing in The Conversation, Aaron Scott, an asscoiate professor in respiratory science at the University of Birmingham, said: “Some [vape] products deliver vitamin B12 dissolved in a common e-liquid component, vegetable glycerine.
“Other products use propylene glycol or a mixture of both liquids.
“When heated, these components break down into harmful chemicals, termed reactive carbonyl species, such as formaldehyde,” he warned.
“These chemicals have been shown to harm alveolar macrophages, important immune cells in the lung, in a way not dependent on the presence of nicotine.
“Similar findings have also been shown in other important airway and immune cells.”
Dr Weiner echoed Prof Scott in his warnings about vegetable glycerine.
He said several caffeine vapes still use ingredients like vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol.
When the vape turns on and heats these chemicals, they can turn into substances like formaldehyde, which has been linked to several forms of cancer and injuries like popcorn lung.
A 2019 study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that of all vapes tested, vitamin B12 varieties caused the highest amount of oxidative stress.
This occurs when there’s an imbalance between free radicals – unstable molecules that can damage cells – and antioxidants, which lead to health issues like inflammation and other chronic diseases.
The researchers also found that these e-cigarettes lead to inflammation in outer lung cells and microphages, white blood cells that destroy dead cells.
On top of this, research suggests that your body can’t absorb nutrients by inhaling them.
Dr Allen told DailyMail.com: “The idea of inhaling vitamins is not necessary. Just eat well.”
Prof Scott delivered similar warnings about wellness vapes containing essential oils.
“They contain compounds called terpenes and a mixture of other chemicals similar to e-liquids.
“Terpenes have been reported to have a range of benefits including anticancer, antiallergy and antimicrobial properties, suggesting the potential benefits of taking these essential oils.
“However, terpenes are degraded by heat so may be broken down by vaping into harmful compounds that can irritate the airways and may be toxic to cells at higher doses and longer exposure.”
Read more on how vaping affects your health
FROM how vaping can harm your health to what quitting the devices does to your body and novel ways to kick the habit, read more of Sun Health’s coverage on vaping.