Q: What’s the deal with e-cigarettes?
A: E-cigarette use, has unfortunately gained popularity with teenagers. There are many factors contributing to this popularity, including fruity flavors, social media positioning e-cigarettes in a glamorous light and the ease of secretly hiding them due to the lack of smoke and the discreet design of the devices.
Also known as vaping, using e-cigarettes produces visible vapor, but no smelly smoke. Though e-cigarettes don’t have tar or carbon monoxide, which have been implicated in cancers of the mouth, throat and lungs, they represent a gateway to cigarette use.
The nicotine in these devices is highly addictive and under-recognized. For example, the amount of nicotine in a full pack of 20 cigarettes is equivalent to one pod of some brands of e-cigarettes. Nicotine causes increases in heart rate and blood pressure, suppresses appetite and affects the brain’s biochemical system to induce craving and addiction. The addictive potential of nicotine has been compared to heroin. Since children and teenagers are still growing and developing, exposing their growing bodies and brains to the effects of nicotine has lifelong implications.
It is critically important that parents talk with kids about e-cigarettes and the risk of experimental use quickly becoming an addiction due to the powerful nature of nicotine.
Dr. Gigi Chawla is a board-certified pediatrician and the chief of general pediatrics at Children’s Minnesota.
