By Cara Murez
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Could 5, 2023 (HealthDay Information) — Whereas public well being officers have expressed issues about teenagers vaping, a brand new research suggests getting extra to stop could also be easy.
Eliminating flavored e-cigarettes might scale back using vapes altogether in teenagers and younger adults, the analysis discovered.
“The restriction of the supply for sure e-cigarette e-liquid flavors has been thought of by numerous regulatory businesses,” mentioned senior creator Alayna Tackett, of the Middle for Tobacco Analysis at Ohio State College’s Wexner Medical Middle in Columbus.
“Our group was interested by surveying youth and younger adults to know their ideas on what decisions they could make ought to regulatory insurance policies solely permit menthol and/or tobacco flavors in e-cigarette e-liquid merchandise,” she mentioned in a college information launch.
For the nationwide research, the researchers surveyed greater than 1,400 individuals between 14 and 21 years of age who had used e-cigarettes not less than as soon as per day in previous month.
They have been requested which flavors they sometimes use from an inventory that included tobacco, menthol, cool mint, fruit ice and fruit/candy and what they’d do if U.S. federal legislation restricted flavors to tobacco and menthol.
If candy flavors have been banned, 39% of respondents mentioned they’d cease utilizing e-cigarettes. That jumped to 71% if tobacco have been the one choice.
Respondents who most well-liked flavors with cooling components, comparable to fruit ice, have been extra prone to say they’d stop if tobacco have been the one taste accessible, in comparison with menthol taste customers. This reveals an necessary distinction between these teams, Tackett mentioned.
“On this pattern of adolescents and younger adults, it seems that non-tobacco flavors could also be necessary for his or her curiosity in and continued use of e-cigarettes,” Tackett mentioned.
Researchers, in fact, don’t know if respondents would truly observe by with this conduct or if they’d begin utilizing different tobacco merchandise.
Future analysis might look at this extra in locations that already prohibit flavors or a extra consultant pattern may very well be studied. The pattern on this research was not consultant of the inhabitants as an entire; it was principally white and feminine.
Cigarette smoking is the main explanation for preventable loss of life in the USA.
Stopping younger individuals from vaping is an important public well being objective, mentioned Tackett, who additionally pointed to the potential influence of e-cigarette regulation on grownup people who smoke who vape as an alternative choice to quitting tobacco utterly.
“Many adults desire utilizing non-tobacco flavors to modify from flamable cigarettes to e-cigarettes,” Tackett mentioned. “Taste restriction insurance policies ought to contemplate the perfect methods to guard public well being whereas additionally supporting adults who’re interested by selecting doubtlessly much less dangerous alternate options to flamable cigarettes.”
The findings have been printed on-line Could 3 within the Journal of Research on Alcohol and Medication.
Extra data
The American Lung Affiliation has extra on the influence of e-cigarettes on the lungs.
SOURCE: Ohio State College, information launch, Could 4, 2023
