Two Studies Affirm the Importance of Flavours
The world is attacking eliquid flavours, and some in the UK are demanding the government bans everything but menthol and tobacco, but two research studies show they’re wrong to do so
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by Dave Cross
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Erna Krüsemann, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, worked with a Dutch team, including Loes van Tiel, Jeroen Pennings, Wim Vaessen, Kees de Graaf, Reinskje Talhout and Sanne Boesveldt, to produce a paper published in the journal Chemical Senses.
The Netherlands has taken a decidedly puritanical approach to vaping lately and is hellbent to make access to efficacious tobacco harm reduction products as difficult as possible(2).
The authors write: “Smokers may reduce their health risk by switching to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use. As e-cigarettes are not harmless, concerns exist about e-cigarette use by non-smokers and youth. E-liquids are available in many different flavours that increase sensory appeal.”
They surveyed adult vapers to get them to appraised different eliquid products.
“Within all groups, the typically sweet and minty flavours (e.g., wine gum, watermelon, peppermint, menthol) were liked significantly more than the tobacco-flavoured e-liquids. Banning all flavours except tobacco will likely reduce e-cigarette appeal.”
The other paper(3) has been published in the Nicotine & Tobacco Research journal. The team features Ann McNeill who was the lead author for the recent Public Health England Vaping in England evidence update(4).
The study looked at data collected from 886 current smokers and vapers, asking them which flavours they preferred and if it could be shown that flavour choice was related to successfully quitting tobacco use.
They found that most of the smokers who initially switched to tobacco flavours had gradually shifted on to sweeter products to help them remain tobacco-free, and concluded: “Use of fruit and other sweet flavoured e-liquids is positively related to smokers' transition away from cigarettes.”
The research team said: “With multiple jurisdictions considering limiting or banning the sale of flavoured NVPs, it is important to consider how such policies may impact smokers using NVPs to transition away from cigarette smoking.
“Our results indicate that vapers who used sweet flavours were more likely to transition away from cigarette smoking and quit cigarette use…compared to those who used tobacco or unflavoured NVPs.”
Maybe it’s time politicians looked at the evidence rather than listening to an uninformed billionaire’s opinion?
References:
- Both non-smoking youth and smoking adults like sweet and minty e-liquid flavors more than tobacco flavor - https://academic.oup.com/chemse/advance-article/doi/10.1093/chemse/bjab009/6158977
- IEVA Slams Dutch Ban - https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2021-01-20_ieva-slams-dutch-ban.html
- How does the use of flavored nicotine vaping products relate to progression towards quitting smoking? Findings from the 2016 and 2018 ITC 4CV Surveys - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33631007/
- Stunning PHE Report Released - https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2021-02-23_stunning-phe-report-released.html
Photo Credit:
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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