Vaping has been the popular trend of recent times as it is slowly taking over the interest of people from diverse age groups and from across the globe. As vaping started to grow popular, brands introduced diverse e-liquids in vibrant flavors to appeal to the audience. But the rapid expansion in the industry has also encouraged low-quality and toxic inventions into e-liquids that could threaten the safety and health of users.
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While vaping’s long-term effects are still uncertain, these chemicals could certainly induce severe problems with regular use. If you are concerned about your health while vaping, please avoid these ingredients in your e-liquid and check the best European CBD vape brand, CBDfx as per your needs.
Why Are Some Vape Ingredients Problematic?
Before we understand the many ingredients to avoid in vape juices, let us dig deep and evaluate why an ingredient might not be the right choice in an e-liquid.
Although vaping is significantly safer than smoking for your health, the constituents of your e-liquid interact with your body to initiate some effects. Researchers tried to understand the extent of these effects to know if any of these interactions initiated irreversible damage to the body’s organs or systems.
The research’s focus includes evaluating the effects of e-liquids and vape juice on white blood cells and their functionalities and characteristics such as oxygen production. The results indicate that certain chemical compounds from e-liquids could oxidize to initiate permanent damage to the body, such as by causing inflammation, inducing cellular toxicity, and degrade the ability of a cell to produce oxygen.
It means that these chemical compounds of e-liquids could adversely affect your health and wellness over time and have an intense impact on your respiratory system. It could threaten the integrity and functioning of your lungs after prolonged exposure.
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Therefore the first step to access the safety and quality of your e-liquid is to read the label and recognize any harmful components to reduce the risk of developing chronic health problems.
Diketones
Diketones are added to e-liquids to create a creamy and buttery texture. The compounds are strictly prohibited for use in food items, although there is no law preventing use in inhalation products.
Diketones in e-liquids include acetyl propionyl, acetoin, and diacetyl. High concentrations of diacetyl can cause bronchitis and lung damage. While acetyl propionyl and acetoin are used as substitutes to diacetyl to enhance safety, most health-conscious vapers avoid these diketones as well. It is because the long term consequences of using these compounds during vaping are uncertain.
Titanium dioxide
The nanoparticles of titanium dioxide have the potential to enter your brain and lungs when you inhale the vapors, which can damage neurons and cells. These particles can cause oxidative stress and initiate cell damage, inflammations, and mutations.
They also affect the immune system and are known to possess carcinogenic properties that could lead to several health complications.
Cinnamaldehyde
As the name suggests, Cinnamaldehyde is the flavoring compound used to imitate the flavor palette of cinnamon in e-liquids. The compound gives the enchanting aroma and taste of your favorite breakfast ingredient. Although the FDA’s flavoring agents have been approved, studies suggest that the compound could be one of the most toxic substances to vape.
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Research indicates that the compound could damage white blood cells or monocytes and impair their lungs’ ability to eliminate mucus. It also heavily impacts the cell’s ability to produce oxygen and shows the highest results in the scale of toxicity. Although the flavoring agent is safe when present in the e-liquid, the combustion during vaping gives rise to compounds that are heavily toxic for your body. Hence avoid cinnamon flavors for your vaping.
Vanillin
Like Cinnamaldehyde, Vanillin is the flavoring compound for vanilla that closely joins the former in the list of toxic flavoring substances to inhale. The chemicals are known to initiate cell- death by degrading their ability to produce oxygen.
Studies conducted by the American Heart Association understands the effects of some vape flavors, including vanilla, cinnamon, clove, burnt flavor, strawberry, banana, and spicy cooing on overall health. Among them, burnt flavor, cinnamon, clove, and vanilla induced the highest inflammatory marker interleukin-6 and very low nitric oxide levels.
These flavors also caused impaired blood vessel functioning and increased signs of early heart damage. Vanillin might, therefore, not be the right choice of flavoring for your e-liquid.
Strawberry and Banana
Among the many flavors tested for impact on heart cells, strawberry-flavor showed alarming effects leading to cell death even in low concentrations. Such extreme short term effects from the use of strawberry flavor are primarily due to dimethyl pyrazine.
Similar results were observed in the banana flavor due to isoamyl acetate used to imitate bananas’ flavor profile.
Menthol
Menthol is a very common and preferred flavor for inhaling as it leaves a refreshing and cooling after effect. While the effects of using menthol are certainly not as toxic as the previous flavors, the chemicals could initiate damage to epithelial cells and increase cell death.
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A study from the University of Salford suggests that prolonged use of flavors such as menthol and butterscotch can permanently damage bronchial cells.
Multiple Flavors
New and innovative flavors that are complex mixtures like berries and cream seem like exciting flavor options. But choosing such e-liquids means you are exposed to more chemicals and complicated mixtures compared to single flavors.
These combinations could increase the risk of cell damage and end up being unhealthy. Complex flavors mean more additives and unpredictable chemical combinations during combustion that could result in uncertain health effects.
These are some of the most toxic ingredients often found in vape liquids that could have harmful effects. Avoid using e-liquids that contain these ingredients. Also, avoid brands that do not share information about the constituents of the e-liquid as a precaution.
The first rule to relish the benefits and experience of vaping is to choose quality over everything else. Choose premium e-liquids composed of high quality and safe ingredients and flavorings for a fun time vaping.