A recent University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) study has data revealing how Juul users may become addicted to nicotine vape.

Juul is the most popular brand of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). ENDS are known by many slang terms including e-cigarettes or e-cigs, Juuls, and vapes or vape pens.

By the conclusion of 2017, San Francisco-based company Juul Labs—a spinoff of Pax Labs—reached preferred status among U.S. consumers and eight months later had acquired a 72 percent market share. The company managed to derive nicotine salts—a combination of nicotine and acids found naturally in the tobacco leaf—into single-use vaping pods.

According to an article by Bay Area CBS affiliate KPIX, scientific researchers at UCSF discovered it would be very easy to become addicted to the nicotine vape in Juul products specifically. This is because when lab rats were exposed in equal time periods to the Juul products, other e-cigarette products, and combustible cigarettes, the rodents’ concentration of nicotine in their blood was distinctive.

First, comparing Juul to other vaping products in terms of this blood rating revealed nicotine levels eight times that of other competing ENDS cartridges on the market. Second, the researchers compared Juul to traditional cigarettes that a consumer would light up. While the results were not as remarkable, they were still significant at five times that of a combustible, pointing to how a person would become addicted to nicotine vape.

A UCSF cardiology professor—a senior author of the study—noted that the ramifications of this information is particularly high for adolescents. He says an adult attempting to use vaping as a method of quitting combustibles may be able to stop the impulse to use once blood levels reach a personal norm. Teenage nonsmokers, on the other hand, without the experience of the drug’s effects are likely to chase ever-increasing levels to their detriment.

In addition to the addictive element, an article by truthinitiative.org claims that while ENDS of any kind are referred to as vaping, what is actually being inhaled is an aerosol. Aerosols can contain minute particles of chemicals originating from the pod’s liquid in addition to metals from the heating coil in the device itself.

As indicated by the article, significant evidence has connected these particles may lead to injury of the cardiovascular system. Among the measurable side effects are changes in resting heart rate, blood pressure levels, and cells which line the vessels of the circulatory system.

Statistics gathered as of Nov. 5 note that there have been 2,051 reported cases of a mysterious lung ailment with occasional fatal consequences associated with e-cigarettes.

Truthinitiative.org reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that there have been 39 deaths as a result of this epidemic and they are searching for answers. To date, they have discovered some relationship between Vitamin E acetate as well as THC—the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana—and the disease. Neither of these elements have been part of all the cases, however.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.