Flavored e-cigarette products and advertisements promoting them have been recently under increasing criticisms from authorities and health experts.
In a recent study published on the first of April, researchers at the University of Southern California found out that tobacco consumption of 18-year-old children who used modified e-cigarette products is 6 times as high as those children who never used them before.
The author said that she wants to find out which features of e-cigarettes can increase the risk of more harmful smoking behaviors in the future. In addition, she emphasized that some factors, such as the kind of vaping device, the use of a nicotine “e-liquid”, or the way of using a nicotine “e-liquid”, can be easily controlled.
The study collected data from a survey of children in Southern California between 2015 and 2017, mostly before new brands like Juul gained widespread popularity in the market.
The finding also suggested that those children who consumed other vaping products tended to smoke more cigarettes than others but not as many as those who consumed modified products.
The exact causes of the increased possibility are still unclear. However, if further research can confirm this trend and find out the link, it would be a good reason for authorities to introduce new regulations to restrict the availability of e-cigarette products to children.
Currently, there are several possible assumptions about the association between using modified e-cigarette products and higher cigarette consumption. The level of nicotine generated by these devices is one of them. In general, the batteries in modified models are bigger than those in normal e-cigarettes. This allows them to vaporize and deliver nicotine better.
Nicotine is highly addictive, particularly to children because their brains are still developing.
However, there are still many questions around this theory that need to be answered.
In the meantime, the market for e-cigarette products is becoming more complicated.
Many products, especially from Juul, have gained widespread popularity, especially among young customers.
According to a recent survey, it is estimated that up to 5 million young people used e-cigarette products over the past month.
More than 5 million youth reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. Compared to the same figure last year, which was around 3.6 million, it was equivalent to an increase of nearly 39 percent.
Around 20 percent of these vapers used e-cigarette devices on a daily basis during the last year. A large number of this group chose Juul.
Source:
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/04/02/peds.2019-1652
