Up in Smoke

    Since the 1960s, smoking has become something of a trend. It has built up a reputation of being “cool” back then, and even now. Besides being considered a popular act, people began to use it more as a way of coping, relaxing, and winding down. However, this method of relaxation contains addictive and hazardous chemicals. Over the years, as our population has become more and more health conscious and more aware of what they are putting into their bodies, cigarette companies began to create e-cigarettes, vapes, JUULs, etc. in order to market their products as a "safer alternative". 

    Multiple cases, however, have come to light where  adolescents have been hospitalized with lungs similar to that of an 80 year old, likely due to the vapor. Though JUULs, e-cigarettes, and vape pens may not contain all of the same harsh chemicals of cigarettes themselves, they can still induce oxidative stress, inflammation, damage in lung cells (Muthumalage et al., 2019). In December 2019, Muthumalage et al. conducted a study looking at the induced effects of e-cigarettes, specifically different JUUL pod flavors and their effects. Researchers compared the amount of superoxide production in bronchial epithelial cells, epithelial barrier dysfunction, and DNA damage upon exposure of vapor in lung cells in different JUUL pod flavors such as fruit medley, cool mint, crème brulee, cool cucumber, mango, classic menthol, etc. (Muthumalage et al., 2019). The flavoring chemicals in the pods contain alcohols and aldehydes which form byproducts such as acetals, induce irritation through mitochondrial oxidation of the lung and inflammatory responses and can induce barrier dysfunction (Crème Brulee and Cool Cucumber) and lead to cell death (Muthamalage et al., 2019). Inhaling vapor with these chemicals and varying percentages of nicotine not only pose issues for lung cells, but they can also negatively effect the cardiovascular system including the possibility of atherosclerosis, hypertension, thrombogenesis and MI (Muhumalage et al., 2019). Though smoking has been somewhat of a trend over the years and may seem to be a way of relaxation that is safer than cigarettes, the "safer alternative" e-cigarettes and vape pens pose just as many problems to our health. 

source: 

Muthumalage, T., Lamb, T., Friedman, M. R., & Rahman, I. (2019). E-cigarette flavored pods induce inflammation, epithelial barrier dysfunction, and DNA damage in lung epithelial cells and monocytes. Scientific reports, 9(1), 19035. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51643-6