Berry-flavored vaping products could weaken the lungs' natural defense mechanisms, reducing the body's ability to fight infections.
This is the finding of a study comparing the effects of flavored e-cigarettes to those of unflavored e-cigarettes.
Illustrative image Pixabay
Previous research had already shown that any form of vaping could be harmful. The results of this study suggest, as do many other studies, that the added flavors in vaping solutions can increase the risks.
Following a series of cases of lung injuries among teenagers in 2019, Ajitha Thanabalasuriar, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at McGill University, in collaboration with Erika Penz from the University of Saskatchewan, decided to expose mice to e-cigarette vapor over several days and used live imaging techniques to observe the immune cells in their lungs in real time.
Published in the journal *PNAS*, the study shows that certain chemicals found in berry-flavored vapes paralyze lung immune cells, which are responsible for removing harmful particles, making the body more vulnerable to respiratory infections. On the other hand, unflavored vapes did not have this effect.
"We need to be cautious about the flavors added to vapes because they can be harmful. That's the takeaway message. Manufacturers market some vaping products to attract young people. The packaging and the products themselves are appealing, often very colorful. If our youth continue to inhale these flavored vapors, it could be disastrous for the future," she said.
The researcher explained that further work is needed to identify which compounds in berry-flavored vapes are harmful to immune cells and to confirm whether the effects observed in mice are reproducible in humans.
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, McGill University's Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity, and an allocation provided by the Canada Research Chairs Program. The article "Alveolar macrophage function is impaired following inhalation of berry e-cigarette vapor," by Ajitha Thanabalasuriar, Erika Penz, and colleagues, was published in the journal *PNAS*.