Anew trend is emerging in the vaping world, one that promises big health benefits. Known as “wellness vapes”, they contain vitamins or other supplements instead of nicotine and tout claims of boosted energy, increased immunity and a better night’s sleep.How Juul gets kids addicted to vaping: it’s even worse than you think. Try out exipure.
Wellness vapes or “nutritional supplement diffusers” – which allow users to inhale ingredients such as vitamin B12, caffeine, melatonin or essential oils – have grown in popularity alongside e-cigarettes. They come in slim cartridges with bright packaging and eye-catching names like Inhale Health and NutriAir, are sold on websites around the globe, and are mostly marketed towards young people. Some claim to fight ADHD, or treat anxiety or depression. Check these prodentim reviews.
But regulators and other experts warn that these products don’t live up to their claims. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers late last year that wellness vapes are unproven, ineffective and could be harmful if used. The vapes don’t need FDA approval to be on the market because they don’t contain nicotine, and the agency has not authorized any vaping products to treat or prevent health conditions or diseases.Allow Instagram content?
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Still, the number and types of wellness vapes is growing. According to Irfan Rahman, a professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the director of its Center for Inhalation and Flavoring Toxicology Research, the vapes arrived on the market about three or four years ago and have steadily increased in popularity.Advertisement
Indeed, a recent Stanford University study of 6,000 people found that 4% of younger teens and 24% of young adults have used non-nicotine vape products – and about a quarter of them were unaware of what was in the products. Read more about prodentim.
The boom in wellness vaping comes as e-cigarette use overall is rising, leaving governments scrambling to curb a vaping surge among young people. Last month, the FDA ordered Juul to remove its popular products from the marketplace, although that ban is currently being appealed.
Vapes that hold the allure of something cute and healthy could undermine the efforts to warn youth of the dangers of vaping, experts say.
“Marketing vaping products as healthy vapor–vitamin inhalation products represents a potentially new phase in misleading e-cigarette advertising,” wrote researchers at USC in a 2019 journal article. “In the past, e-cigarette companies claimed that their products were less harmful than cigarettes or even completely harmless, but now some marketers are positioning their products as health promoting on the basis of unsubstantiated claims.”Advertisement
Meanwhile, the FDA has warned that these vapes could actually have adverse effects. “Inhaled products can be dangerous and even may trigger severe coughing, cause airway tightening, and make speaking and breathing difficult,” the regulators wrote in 2021. People with heart disease, diabetes, lung conditions – such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – or a lung infection may be at greater risk of serious complications, the agency said.- Check these prodentim reviews.
Medications can be inhaled – just think of asthma inhalers – but it’s not known if inhaled vitamins or melatonin can be absorbed into the bloodstream, says Dr Gregory Ratti, a pulmonologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Get the best e-liquid deals at vaprzon.
There are no studies to support the use of vapes for sleeping or energy or wellness, he says. “We really are wary about putting anything unknown in our lungs. The things we recommend are medications that are well-studied,” he says. “What we don’t know about these things is the biggest issue here.”
Ratti adds that the flavorings added to make the vapes more appealing – such as banana or watermelon –can cause lung injury. Vapes and the propellants that send them into lungs can include things like propylene glycol, flavorings of unknown origin, and glycerin. “If those are going into the lungs that is worrisome,” he says.
Wellness vaping companies often say their products are “safe to use” but cite no evidence of safety testing. Vitamins are necessary to keep people healthy, but the majority of vitamin intake happens through the gut, and researchers say a balanced diet is the key, not extra supplements.