DID YOU KNOW?
4.4% of adults aged 18 and over currently use electronic cigarettes
20.8% of adolescents in grades 9-12 used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days
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Flavored vs. unflavored e-cigarettes and the brain |
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Flavoring can change how the brain responds to e-cigarette aerosols that contain nicotine, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Andrea Hobkirk, Ph.D., and her team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to understand how the brain’s reward areas react to e-cigarette aerosol with and without flavor.
“There are nearly 12 million e-cigarette users in the United States,” Hobkirk, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral health at Penn State College of Medicine, said. “The vast majority use e-cigarettes with menthol, mint, fruity and dessert-type flavors. Although regulations that limit the sale of flavored e-cigarettes may help curb use among youth, they might also stop adults from using e-cigarettes as a smoking reduction or cessation aid. We are trying to understand how flavor influences e-cigarette reward and satisfaction for smokers and the risk of nicotine addiction for non-smokers.”
The team first developed a device to deliver e-cigarette aerosols during brain scanning. Next, the research team used this new device to deliver aerosols containing a low dose of nicotine to nine adult female smokers during a single laboratory visit. One aerosol had a strawberry-vanilla flavor, and the other aerosol was flavorless. The team compared the strength of brain activation and reward brain region involvement between flavored and unflavored aerosols.
“For our study, we were interested in looking first at, for smokers, how flavor might affect their response to nicotine e-cigarettes,” Hobkirk said. “We recruited smokers who had never used e-cigarettes before or were not regular e-cigarette users. What we were interested in is figuring out whether or not flavor changed how they perceived or how their brain responded to this e-cigarette use.”
The researchers found that the strawberry-vanilla aerosol engaged the brain’s taste region. In contrast, the unflavored aerosol engaged the brain’s reward region, similar to observations during cigarette smoking.
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Are you interested in participating in smoking research?
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In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to enforce a previously issued policy on unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarette products to address the current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes. However, Penn State researchers found that adults enjoy sweet e-cigarette flavors just as much as teens, suggesting that the policy may have consequences for adults.
The researchers studied changes in flavor preference in a group of long-term adult e-cigarette users. They found that, over time, preference for the traditional tobacco, menthol and mint flavors decreased, while preference for chocolate, candy and other sweet flavors increased.
“Our data show that flavors aren’t just popular with the youth, but with adults as well,” said Ping Du, first author of the study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society and associate professor of medicine and public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. “Many of the participants in our study indicated that they used e-cigarettes as a means to quit smoking or avoid relapse, and these flavors may be part of the reason why they end up using e-cigarettes in the long-term.”
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We live in an era of self-empowerment. But when it comes to quitting smoking, going it alone isn’t the best approach.
The American Cancer Society says it takes smokers eight to 10 quit attempts before they achieve success. But don’t get discouraged. “The more times people try to quit, the more successful they might be the next time,” said Diane Schmeck, a certified tobacco treatment specialist at Penn State Health St. Joseph.
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Mango, mint, fruit medley—these flavors are delicious in a smoothie but dangerous when they introduce youth and young adults to nicotine. A 2009 federal law outlawed flavorings other than menthol in cigarettes, but electronic cigarettes—or e-cigarettes—are unregulated and exploit the flavors to attract young consumers.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that allow users to inhale or “vape” into their lungs aerosolized liquid that contains nicotine. Many vaping devices can also be used to vaporize marijuana. These devices often look like pens, USB flash drives and other everyday items.
The term Juuling comes from Juul, a company that markets e-cigarettes that look like USB devices and plug into a computer to charge. The e-liquid in vaping cartridges contains nicotine mixed with a base (usually propylene glycol) and may also include flavorings, colorings and other chemicals.
Dr. Shwetha Gurram, a former family medicine physician with Penn State Health in State College, said teens are particularly attracted to “Juuling” because of the device's sleek design and fruity or perfume-like odor. “This makes it easy to hide from adults because of the added flavors such as cool cucumber or creme brulee,” she said.
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Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing nearly half a million Americans each year. We'll talk about the dangers of tobacco and strategies for quitting – along with the rising popularity of vaping – with Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine.
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Ready to quit smoking?
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Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute produces the monthly Engage Podcast. Each episode of Engage Podcast educates listeners about the research process and how Penn State research helps improve our neighbors’ and communities’ health. Engage Podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It is also available at pennstatectsi.libsyn.com. The current episodes are:
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Have you checked out Studyfinder? |
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Studyfinder is an online tool to search and discover Penn State research studies looking for participants. You can search or browse by specific medical conditions like cancer or depression, or you can volunteer as a healthy volunteer.
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Are you interested in health research at Penn State? Do you want to learn ways to volunteer for a research study? Would you like to partner with a Penn State researcher in your community? Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute's Engage website features resources to stay connected. You can learn research basics, how to volunteer for research, where to find news and more. Visit the Engage website here.
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This publication was supported by the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1 TR002014. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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