Researchers have revealed through a new study nearly half of the flavours used in electronic cigarette liquid may alter important cellular functions including cell viability, cell proliferation, and calcium signalling in lung tissue thereby adversely affecting the user.
The research, presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference, notes that as many as 5 of the 13 flavours tests showed an overall adverse effect on cells of lung tissue in a dose-dependent manner.
For the study, researchers exposed cultured human airway epithelial cells to various doses of the 13 e-cigarette liquid flavors for 30 minutes or 24 hours.
Researchers found that during the 30 minute exposure test, flavours Hot Cinnamon Candies, Banana Pudding (Southern Style), and Menthol Tobacco elicited a dose-dependent calcium response and were toxic to the cells at higher doses. During the 24 hour exposure test, these same three favours decreased cell proliferation and cell viability in a dose-dependent manner.
Researchers also revealed that toxic effects of these flavorings were not seen with either nicotine or the e-liquid vehicle, which consisted of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin.
[Related: Evidence of long-term smoking cessation benefits of e-cigarettes lacking: Research]
“The effects of the various chemical components of e-cigarette vapor on lung tissue are largely unknown,” said lead author Temperance Rowell, a graduate student in the Cell Biology and Physiology Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “In our study using human lung epithelial cells, a number of cell viability and toxicity parameters pointed to 5 of 13 flavors tested showing overall adverse effects to cells in a dose-dependent manner.”
“The specific chemical components underlying the toxic effects of these e-cigarette flavors on cell viability, proliferation, and calcium signaling in airway epithelia are undergoing further study in our lab,” said Ms. Rowell. “Given the increasing popularity of flavored e-cigarettes, a better understanding of their ingredients, the potential health risks of these ingredients, and the causes of these risks is urgently needed.”
[Related: E-cigarettes won’t help you quit smoking, research shows]
Additional experiments testing the aerosolized product of e-liquid flavors on cultured primary human bronchial epithelial cells are ongoing. Flavors being tested were selected from the findings in this study.
Funny how every politically motivated, methodologically dubious “study” claiming to find potentially bad things about vapor products gets copypasted and regurgitated without comment by practically every news outlet on the planet (this one in particular is a real howler, as this “study” didn’t involve any actual vapor products or any actual human beings. They just put some lung cells in a petri dish and poured e-liquid on them, as though this has any real-world relevance), while credible, scientifically rigorous meta-studies performed by world-renowned toxicologists and epidemiologists (all of which indicate that vapor products pose negligible health risks to the user and no possible risk whatsoever to any bystander) are swept under the rug as if they don’t exist.
I don’t know whether sites like this are being paid off for publishing this sort of self-evident garbage, but it really doesn’t matter, because it’s still journalistic malpractice of the highest order.
E-cigarettes are only recomended by the people that make them, they are totally untested, unlike tobacco which has existed for millions of years and was extremely difficult to demonstrate any possible health impacts related to proper smoking.
Whereas anyone who has tried ‘vaping’ knows how it strips your throat and makes you ill!
They are just shiny clours and flavours to attract children and idiots!