Menthol makes e-cigarette vapor more toxic – breaking latest news

Menthol-flavored e-cigarettes are more harmful to the lungs than other flavors. This is supported by experts from the University of Pittsburgh in one study recently published in the journal Respiratory Research
for which they cross-referenced the results obtained from a new robotic platform and from information collected on patients-smokers with respiratory problems.

The study: the harm of menthol (banned in Europe)

Using a special robotic system that mimics the mechanisms of human breathing, even while smoking, the researchers have demonstrated that commercially available menthol-containing e-liquids generate a greater number (compared to other aromas) of toxic micro particles. Furthermore, an analysis of data from e-cigarette users indicated that users of these mint-flavored products had shorter breaths and worse respiratory function compared to other e-cigarette vapers, whether or not they were present. of nicotine. Many people, especially the younger ones, believe that vaping is a safe choice for health, but it’s not like that – he underlines Robert Boffi, pulmonologist, head of Pulmonology and the Anti-Smoking Center of the IRCCS National Cancer Institute of Milan —. Even non-nicotine liquids contain many different substances that can damage the lungs, even more in teenagers and boysmore sensitive to the harm of smoking. In Europe, menthol has been banned both in liquids for electronic devices and in “classic” cigarettes, because it has been proven that increases the addictive capacity of nicotine. In the US, on the other hand, in 2020 the Trump administration banned the sale of the most popular e-cigarette flavors among adolescents (fruit, mint, sweets or various caramel flavors) in small cartridges, which are more common among young people.

The harm of smoking

Numerous studies have documented that e-cigarettes involve lower risks than traditional tobacco, but are not harmless due to the presence of some dangerous substances, such as heavy metals and aldehydes (in particular formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic) in the aerosol – recalls Boffi – . Scientific studies have also highlighted an increase in respiratory disorders in adolescents and children who vape, such as bronchitis, asthma, wheezing, inflammation. And then there are many clues collected regarding the damage to the lungs of young people and adults, including a certain series of lipoid pneumonia, which can occur due to the continuous inhalation of oily substances. Finally, as the statistics arriving from the United States indicate, e-cigarettes for the youngest could be the gateway to the habit of “real” smoking, to traditional cigarettes. A trend already underway in Italy, where the latest surveys indicate that for years the number of children (including minors, despite the bans) who smoke e-cigs and new tobacco products (heated tobacco cigarettes, heated tobacco productsHtp). Smoking is the leading cause of death in our country, alone responsible for 83,000 deaths each year. More than 80 percent of the 40,000 cases of lung cancer diagnosed annually in Italy concerns who (or was) a smoker and again many types of tumors are directly linked to tobacco, to which must be added thousands of cases of over 40 different pathologies, starting from respiratory and cardiovascular ones.