What makes berry-flavoured vapes more dangerous than other varieties?

Over the last 5 years, more than cigarettes, vapes have been in trend, and many people have started using vapes for various reasons. Vapes in general could be harmful for the lungs, but recent research suggests that berry-flavored vape is even more hazardous to health and can compromise the lungs' natural defense.

In general, vapes affect the body and make it weak to combat infections. A new study has compared the effects of flavored e-cigarettes to those of unflavored ones. Adding flavor to the vaping solution has been shown to pose a danger to the human body.

Why is berry-flavored vape more dangerous?

Berry flavor, when compared to other fruity vapes, may contain more chemicals like benzaldehyde, which is used to create the scent, and these compounds are potentially harmful to the lung tissues when inhaled over long periods. The vapes also have ethyl martol, a sweetener, which makes the enticing taste addictive for young people. This can lead to using the vape for longer and make one addicted to nocotine, causing greater risk to health.

A study published in PNAS revealed that a specific chemical in berry vapes paralyzes immune cells in the lungs, which is responsible for clearing out harmful particles. The study also noted that the inflavored ones did not have that effect.

The study was inspired by a series of reported lung injury cases in teenagers in 2019. McGill Assistant Professor Ajitha Thanabalasuriar, along with Erika Penz from the University of Saskatchewan, exposed mice to e-cigarette vapor for several days and used a live imaging technique to observe their lung immune cells in real time.