Weight Status and Effects of Non-Tobacco Flavors on E-Cigarette Product Appeal

Bidirectional relationships between nicotine vaping and maladaptive eating behaviors among young adults

Background

Past research indicates that young adult cigarette smokers are at risk of engaging in maladaptive eating behaviors (MEBs); however, whether this relationship extends to nicotine vaping is unclear. The current study assessed bidirectional associations between four types of MEBs and nicotine vaping among young adults.

Methods

1,303 young adults (20.5 ± 2.3 years; 63 % female) from a public, urban university were recruited and completed online surveys at six-month intervals from spring 2021 (W1) to spring 2023 (W5). Past 30-day nicotine vaping and four types of MEBs (susceptibility to external cues, emotional eating, routine restraint, and compensatory restraint) were evaluated.

Results

Longitudinal cross-lagged models examined the bidirectional relationships between past 30-day nicotine vaping and each type of MEB across five waves. Nicotine vaping predicted both susceptibility to external cues (β = 0.10, p <.05; Wave 2 to 3) and emotional eating (β = 0.08, p <.05; Wave 1 to 2). A significant cross-lag regression (Wave 4 to 5) showed nicotine vaping predicted to routine restraint (β = 0.08, p <.05), and routine restraint predicted to nicotine vaping (β = 0.12, p <.05).

Conclusions

Results indicated that nicotine vaping predicted MEBs; however, the type of MEB differed across waves, which may have been due to the COVID-19 pandemic context. Nicotine vaping predicted to MEBs reflecting vulnerability to the external environment and emotion regulation during a period of heightened restrictions, whereas later when pandemic restrictions had ceased nicotine vaping predicted only to routine restraint. Integrating research and practice on nicotine vaping and MEBs may inform public health efforts to decrease co-occurring health-risks in young adulthood.

Prevalence of Obesity Among Electronic Cigarette and Tobacco Users in the United States: Results from the 2018 Wave of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Objective: Tobacco use and obesity are leading causes of preventable death in the U.S. E-cigarette use is on the rise; however, obesity prevalence among e-cigarette users is unknown. The present study characterized obesity prevalence among e-cigarette and tobacco users in a national sample of U.S. adults. Method: Data were obtained from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Approximately 249,726 participants provided data on e-cigarette and tobacco use, height, weight, and demographics, and were categorized as follows: Ever vaped, ever smoked; Ever vaped, never smoked; Never vaped, ever smoked; Never vaped, never smoked. Results: Obesity prevalence (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) differed significantly across groups: 33.0% (ever vaped, ever smoked); 27.7% (ever vaped, never smoked); 33.1% (never vaped, ever smoked); 32.1% (never vaped, never smoked), p < .001. Groups also differed demographically. Logistic regressions adjusted for demographics revealed subjects in the never vaped, ever smoked group were significantly more likely to have obesity relative to those in the never vaped, never smoked group (p < 0.001) with vaping status having no main effect. Secondary analyses using never smokers as the reference found current smokers were less likely to have obesity and former smokers were more likely to have obesity, p < .001. Discussion: The present study is the first to characterize U.S. obesity prevalence among e-cigarette and tobacco users. Obesity prevalence was lower in the ever vaped, never smoked group; however, this finding appears to be attributable to demographic variables. As e-cigarette use becomes more common, future research should examine the development and maintenance of obesity among users.

Indirect Effects of Body Mass Index and Sweet Taste Responsiveness on E-Cigarette Dependence: The Role of E-Cigarette Motives

Background: Recent research has shown obesity to be associated with e-cigarette use and appeal, but models have yet to examine how weight status may be related to e-cigarette dependence among e-cigarette users. Objectives: To increase our understanding of pathways from body mass index (BMI) to e-cigarette dependence, the present cross-sectional observational study investigated a model in which BMI, sweet taste responsiveness, and the interaction of BMI and sweet taste responsiveness are associated with e-cigarette dependence indirectly via seven conceptually-distinct motives for e-cigarette use. Data from several e-cigarette clinical laboratory research studies were pooled and analyzed; only current e-cigarette users were included in the analyses (N=330). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized model. Results: BMI was positively associated with lower social/environmental goad motives and higher weight control motives, and BMI x sweet taste interaction terms found that sweet taste responsiveness strengthened the association of BMI and weight control motives. BMI was not directly or indirectly associated with e-cigarette dependence nor was there a bivariate association between BMI and e-cigarette dependence. Sweet taste responsiveness was positively associated with greater affiliative attachment motives, cognitive enhancement motives, cue exposure-associative process motives, weight control motives, and affect enhancement motives. Sweet taste responsiveness was bivariately associated with e-cigarette dependence and mediation paths show indirect relations to e-cigarette dependence via three of the seven motives. Conclusions: The findings suggest that sweet taste responsiveness, opposed to BMI, is associated with a wider range of e-cigarette use motives and indirectly relates to e-cigarette dependence via several e-cigarette use motives.

Metabolic and Other Endocrine Elements with Regard to Lifestyle Choices: Focus on E-Cigarettes

Our objective was to overview recent data on metabolic/endocrine disorders with respect to e-cigarette (e-cig) use. This is a narrative review; we researched English, full-length, original articles on PubMed (between January 2020 and August 2023) by using different keywords in the area of metabolic/endocrine issues. We only included original clinical studies (n = 22) and excluded case reports and experimental studies. 3 studies (N1 = 22,385; N2 = 600,046; N3 = 5101) addressed prediabetes risk; N1 showed a 1.57-fold increased risk of dual vs. never smokers, a higher risk that was not confirmed in N2 (based on self-reported assessments). Current non-smokers (N1) who were dual smokers still have an increased odd of prediabetes (a 1.27-fold risk increase). N3 and another 2 studies addressed type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM): a lower prevalence of DM among dual users (3.3%) vs. cigarette smoking (5.9%) was identified. 6 studies investigated obesity profile (4 of them found positive correlations with e-cig use). One study (N4 = 373,781) showed that e-cig use was associated with obesity in the general population (OR = 1.6, 95%CI: 1.3-2.1, p < 0.05); another (N5 = 7505, 0.82% were e-cig-only) showed that obesity had a higher prevalence in dual smokers (51%) vs. cig-only (41.2%, p < 0.05), while another (N6 = 3055) found that female (not male) e-cig smokers had higher body mass index vs. non-smokers. Data on metabolic syndrome (MS) are provided for dual smokers (n = 2): one case-control study found that female dual smokers had higher odds of MS than non-smokers. The need for awareness with respect to potential e-cig--associated medical issues should be part of modern medicine, including daily anamnesis. Whether the metabolic/endocrine frame is part of the general picture is yet to be determined. Surveillance protocols should help clinicians to easily access the medical background of one subject, including this specific matter of e-cig with/without conventional cigarettes smoking and other habits/lifestyle elements, especially when taking into consideration metabolism anomalies.

Optimization of Determination Method of Cooling Agents in Cigarette Tipping Paper by Gas Chromatography

Monitoring the characteristic components in tipping paper is important to ensure the quality of cigarette products. This study establishes a method based on gas chromatography (GC) for determining cooling agents in tipping paper. The tipping paper was cut into pieces and extracted by ethanol under specific temperatures in a shaker. Then, the characteristic cooling agents of (-)-menthone, L-menthol, and (-)-menthyl lactate in extract were determined using GC coupled with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) for the three cooling agents ranged from 0.15~0.32 μg/mL and 0.49~1.06 μg/mL, respectively. Results demonstrated a good linear relationship with high correlation coefficients for the three tested cooling agents. The extraction conditions of the cooling agents were optimized through a single-factor experiment as well as an orthogonal experiment. The standard addition recovery experiment showed that the average recoveries range from 81.23 to 100.62%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the measured values (n = 5) ranged from 0.34 to 1.64%.