Cherry-Flavored Electronic Cigarettes can Irritate the Airways

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – While e-cigs still remain a healthier alternative to tobacco, it would seem they also come along with their own warning label. A recent study has revealed that cherry-flavored electronic cigarettes can irritate the airways, due to the presence of a chemical called benzaldehyde.

Since the launch of the electronic cigarettes, more and more smokers are beginning to switch sides, so to say. Enticed by the aggressive marketing campaigns, all customers seem eager to quit smoking traditional tobacco.

And over the years, the e-cigs gained in popularity after top health institutes conducted extensive studies on the effects of e-cigs. While most of them would agree that vaping smoke is a healthier alternative to tobacco, which is believed to contain over 7000 hazardous chemicals, including 7 carcinogens, there are a couple of studies which stress out the fact that even vaping is dangerous.

A new study performed by a team of medical scientists from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute revealed that cherry-flavored electronic cigarettes can irritate the airways. Moreover, it would seem that the cherry nicotine cartridge can also produce irreparable damage to the airway’s tissue.

The main perpetrator, in this case, is a chemical called benzaldehyde. The substance is also used to manufacture body lotions and food. But the scientists discover that while the substance is harmless when it is applied on the bare skin or ingested, once it is vaped it can cause an inflammation of the airway.

However, the study also contains a little plot twister. It seems that in order to harm the airways, a patient must puff for 8 hours straight each day. This is basically an impossible feat to achieve, even for a heavy smoker. Moreover, the concentration of benzaldehyde required to harm the airways must be approximately 1000 higher than the one found in cherry-flavored nicotine cartridges.

In order to determine the amount of benzaldehyde found inside e-cig nicotine cartridges, the researchers had to sample approximately 145 different flavors. They have discovered that cherry-flavored e-cigarettes had a higher level of benzaldehyde than the other flavors. More specifically, the concentration of the chemical found inside the cherry-flavored cartridges was 43 times higher than in the other flavors.

Again, we have to stress out the fact that this does not make e-cigarettes more dangerous than regular tobacco. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. In order to achieve this level of lung intoxication, a smoker must puff from a cherry-flavored e-cig more than 8 hours per day. And even though someone manages this feat, the concentration of benzaldehyde must be at least 1000 times higher in order to affect the lung tissue and the airways.

Photo credits:www.flickr.com