Study finds teen brains respond to ads for flavored vaping products

Houston — There are new clues in the lab about why people are getting hooked to e-cigarettes and what makes it so dangerous. A study at Yale University looked at the impact of flavored e-cigarettes and vape oil on young people, and how it leads them to nicotine addiction.

“As far as why they like the flavorings, they like the fact that the flavorings make the product more palatable,” said Dr. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin.

Researchers found even the ads for flavored products are activating the reward center of teenagers’ brains, compelling them to try it.

“With nicotine, there is a possibility that the flavorings also made the nicotine easier to use and therefore can lead to addiction,” Krishnan-Sarin said.

In another study, at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, research on vaping’s impact on lab mice found the solvents used to make a product vapable, damaged the lungs and were just as harmful as nicotine itself.

Trump’s crackdown on flavored vaping products unlikely to take effect soon

“Vaping can cause quite a havoc in the lung, it is completely different from what cigarette smoke does,” said Dr. Farrah Kheradmand.

Kheradmand said the mice had an abnormal buildup of fat in the lungs, from a reaction to the solvents. The exposure lasted four months, comparable to years of smoking or vaping in humans.

“Vaping is not safe, chronic vaping is even worse perhaps and that flavoring, I wouldn’t be surprised adds to this problem,” Kheradmand said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed how it’s measuring the number of serious lung illnesses from people who vape. The agency now revising downward the number of cases across the country from 450 to 380. Those are the ones most closely linked to the use of e-cigarettes. The agency said six people have died.