Mint gives a refreshing taste to the mouth. This is why many edible and consumable products use it for flavor. Even e-cigarettes nowadays come with this flavor for a lingering cool effect. Unfortunately, scientists found that this could spell more trouble for users.
A study to be published in Respiratory Research showed how researchers from the University of Pittsburgh determined how the mint flavor in vaping juice could be detrimental to health.
The team used a specially designed robotic system that mimics the mechanism of human behavior and breathing when using an e-cigarette or vape. They tested commercially available vape liquids and found that those containing menthol generated more toxic microparticles than non-menthol juices.
These toxic microparticles were then linked to shallower breaths and worse lung function among consumers in an accompanying analysis of patient records from a cohort. The researchers pointed out that while mint is safe for consumption, the same cannot be said when it is inhaled.
“Many people, especially youth, erroneously assume that vaping is safe, but even nicotine-free vaping mixtures contain 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,” senior author Kambez Benam said, as quoted by UPI.
Benam is an associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been pressuring cigarette manufacturers to stop putting menthol in their products since this drives many people, especially the youth, to use them.
Despite this, the market for vaping products has significantly expanded worldwide. In 2022, around 2.5 million youth admitted to smoking e-cigarettes. Mint- and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes were the most popular among consumers, according to Neuroscience News.
A study from 2019 found that vitamin E acetate, a common additive in…
Read the full article here