Vaping has long been shrouded in controversy.
While it’s often touted as a ‘safer’ alternative to smoking, recent research has found it can lead to permanent lung injuries.
For instance, one study published last week found that while vaping was ‘much safer’ than smoking traditional cigarettes, it was still linked to eight different lung diseases.
But it’s not just nicotine vapes that are pressed to the nations’ lips.
Recently, wellness companies have adopted the gadgets, and pumped them full of ‘health-boosting’ or ‘energy-dosing’ substances, from vitamin B12 to melatonin.
Around one in five teenagers use non-nicotine vapes, according to a 2022 Stanford University study.
And the most popular has to be those containing caffeine – such as Eagle Energy, costing $25-30 for two, which claim to provide a ‘natural energy boost without unintended byproducts.’
Many of the brands, such as Inhale Health, also claim that their products contain no calories or sugar, resulting in ‘no more sugar crash.’
Experts told DailyMail.com that vapes with caffeine, vitamins, and essential oils could still result in permanent lung injuries, even if they don’t have nicotine
Coming in a slew of bright colors and touting a variety of benefits, wellness vapes from brands like Breathe and VitaBar have become increasingly popular on TikTok and other social media.
Some are backed by social media stars – like Canadian model and influencer Adrianne Ho, who said her caffeine vape ‘allows me to have coffee when I’m on the go’.
‘It can keep you energized without actually having to drink coffee, it’s a coffee alternative.’
However, experts have issued grave warnings to DailyMail.com. First, scientists have questioned whether inhaled caffeine even makes it into the bloodstream.
Meanwhile, puffing on vapes involves serious risks – including permanent injuries like bronchiolitis, otherwise known as popcorn lung, and EVALI, painful lung damage that can lead to lasting scarring.
Additionally, experts warned that the marketing of the devices – in rainbow colors and featuring terms like ‘wellness’ – can potentially lure in teenagers and children.
‘No vape is safe,’ Dr Timothy Allen, chair of pathology at Corewell Health East in Michigan, told DailyMail.com.
A TikTok user named tatibxx shared a video of her using an essential oil vape from LUVV Inhealers
‘There are carriers or supplements in the vape that could be a direct cause of harm.’
‘Wellness vaping is just a gimick. It’s just a plot to suggest there are benefits to vaping even though there are no studies showing such an effect exists.’
Caffeine, along with essential oils, and vitamin B12 – which helps oxygen-rich red blood cells form – have become popular additives in vapes.
However, Dr Allen noted that, due to the way caffeine is processed in the body, inhaling it is likely to destroy any effects whatsoever.
‘There is no evidence that caffeine or melatonin or any of this stuff actually makes its way into the bloodstream or into the body beyond the lung itself,’ he said.
In caffeine’s case, ‘I don’t think there would be any stimulant effect at all,’ he said.
In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warning letters to five wellness e-cigarette manufacturers for promoting ‘unproven’ claims, including those that using the products treated conditions like anemia, ADHD, depression, anxiety, dementia, and cancer.
‘These claims are unproven, and the products may be ineffective, a waste of money, unsafe, and may prevent or delay you from seeking an appropriate diagnosis and treatment from a health care professional,’ the agency wrote.
And the lack of efficacy doesn’t make them immune to negative effects.
‘The risk of lung injury remains,’ Dr Allen said.
A supplement influencer named Jessica Dela Cruz shared a TikTok in 2022 promoting vitamin C and B12 vapes from Boost
Dr Aaron Weiner, a licensed clinical psychologist and addiction specialist in Illinois, told DailyMail.com: ‘The only chemical that’s supposed to be absorbed is oxygen. That’s what the lungs are designed for.’
‘As soon as you start putting other things in there, you don’t really know what’s going to happen.’
Dr Weiner pointed to vitamin E, which can be found in dark leafy greens, whole grains, oils, and fruits.
A form of this known as vitamin E acetate, however, has been found in nicotine and non-nicotine vapes and linked to e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury (EVALI), which can be permanent.
‘Vitamin E is completely fine to eat, but not to breathe,’ Dr Weiner said.
There is no test to determine if someone has EVALI, so diagnosis is based on symptoms, which include shortness of breath, fever, chills, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, rapid heart rate, and chest pain, according to the American Lung Association (ALA).
EVALI has caused several harrowing health scares. A 34-year-old woman from Ohio, who was going through around eight cartridges of vape fluid each week, the equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day, found herself on life support within 24 hours of going to urgent care for trouble breathing.
In another terrifying case, a 20-year-old woman from the UK named Abby Flynn developed a rare lung condition, dubbed ‘popcorn lung’, which doctors warned could have left her reliant on an oxygen machine before she turned 30.
Oklahoma topped the list for the highest number of vape users in a recent report
In terms of daily users, Oklahoma and Tennessee tied for first place
Additionally, the FDA released issued a warning in 2021 for a vape known as Breathe B12, stating that the ingredients ‘may trigger laryngospasm or bronchospasm, may be toxic to the tissues in the upper or lower airways, or may be absorbed and exert undesirable systemic effects or organ toxicity.’
Laryngospasm is a spasm of the vocal cords, whereas bronchospasm happens when the muscles lining the airways in the lungs tighten.
Dr Weiner also said that several caffeine vapes still contain ingredients like vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol.
When the vape turns on and heats these chemicals, they can turn into substances like formaldehyde, which has been linked to several forms of cancer and injuries like popcorn lung.
‘Propylene glycol breaks down into literally thousands of chemicals, including things like formaldehyde and vitamin E acetate,’ Dr Weiner said. ‘Essentially what that turns into is an oil that coats your lungs, and that’s what was causing that problem.’
‘What you’re actually putting into your lungs, the chemical constellation, and what’s going into your lungs looks very different than what’s written on the outside of the package.’
‘Because these things aren’t FDA approved, they’re not regulated in any way. You don’t really know what’s in them to begin with. You’re exposing yourself to the unknown.’
In terms of vitamin vapes, while vitamin B12 supplements have been shown to improve red blood cell function, research suggests that inhaling them could cause more harm than good.
However, a 2019 study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that of all vapes tested, vitamin B12 varieties produced the highest amount of oxidative stress.
This occurs when there’s an imbalance between free radicals – unstable molecules that can damage cells – and antioxidants, which lead to health issues like inflammation and other chronic diseases.
The researchers also found that these e-cigarettes lead to inflammation in outer lung cells and microphages, white blood cells that destroy dead cells.
There is also no research suggesting that the body can absorb vitamins by inhaling them versus getting them from food or oral supplements. ‘The idea of inhaling vitamins is not necessary,’ Dr Allen said. ‘Just eat well.’
A 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, found that about 2.1 million children currently use e-cigarettes. And about half of them become addicted.
And a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that more 13-15-year-olds are using vapes than adults in all WHO regions, helped by aggressive marketing. This led the agency to call for a worldwide ban on all flavored vapes.
Dr Allen warned that the colorful packaging and health claims on wellness vapes could encourage more young people, who vaping is particularly popular among, to pick them up and risk lasting lung injuries.
‘It’s irresponsible,’ he said. ‘It feels like marketing in bad faith.’
