Two Flavored Chemicals in E-Cigarettes Can Lead to Serious Disease Risks

According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public School, two chemicals widely used in e-cigarettes to create tobacco flavor can damage cilia in the human airway, leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Asthma.

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The cilia in the human airway are like tentacle-like projections, and 50% to 75% of the body's cilia are found in the cells of the human airway. Cilia play an important role in removing mucus and dirt from the airway, allowing people to keep breathing freely and free from irritation. （Damage to the ciliary system in the body can lead to diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. (lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD and asthma)

Despite the pressure of public calls for a smoking ban, there is less and less smoking in public places. However, the public **** health hazards of e-cigarettes, an alternative to smoking, don't seem to be noticed.

Quan Liu, an associate professor of environmental genetics and pathology at Harvard University's School of Public **** Health, found in a new study that the chemicals used to produce the flavor in e-cigarettes can damage the cilia system in the human airways by altering the expression of the genes that enable cilia to be produced and function, thereby destroying the first line of the human lung's protective system.

This research was published in the February 1, 2019 issue of Scientific Reports. This is the first experimental study of the effects of flavoring chemicals in human epithelial cells on the epithelial cell system of the human lung.

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Public **** health experts have noticed an increase in the use of e-cigarettes, as well as a number of school-age teenagers being exposed to e-cigarettes. Some health experts believe that e-cigarettes have become a popular fad.

But research on the possible health hazards associated with e-cigarettes, and on the possible harm caused by the odor of the mixed chemicals produced by e-cigarettes, has not kept pace with the epidemic contagion of e-cigarettes. There has never been a dedicated study of the hazards of the flavored chemicals produced and inhaled during the heating process of e-cigarettes.

In a previous study, Allen and her colleagues at Harvard University's School of Public **** Health found that diacetyl and 2.3.acetylacetone (diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione), were the main components of e-cigarette odor chemicals, accounting for about 90%.

Although some manufacturers of e-cigarettes state that they do not use diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione. But another question arises: what chemicals do they use to create the flavor of e-cigarettes? What are the possible hazards of these chemicals to the human body?

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In addition to being used in e-cigarettes to produce flavors, diacetyl has a wide range of applications in the food processing industry. For example, it can be used as an ingredient in microwave baked popcorn for generating a buttery flavor. It can also be used in baked goods, or candy additives, in short, can produce a range of flavors.

Diacetyl is considered a safe food additive. However, empirical studies have shown that inhalation of diacetyl is dangerous to humans. It can cause bronchiolitis obliterans, a chronic debilitating disease that can also be called popcorn lung. This is because the disease was first discovered in dedicated popcorn production line workers, who became ill after inhaling this artificially buttery-flavored diacetyl on the microwave production line.

After it was discovered that diacetyl could cause the occupational disease of occlusive bronchiolitis obliterans, the search for an alternative to diacetyl began with 2,3-acetylacetone.

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In this new study, begun by Associate Professor Quan Liu, researchers used new laboratory research techniques to create simulated living human epithelial cells to conduct studies of the hazards of diacetyl and 2,3-acetylacetone.

They exposed the two chemicals to healthy human bronchial epithlial cells for 24 hours and found that both diacetyl and 2,3-acetylacetonate caused changes in gene expression in the epithelial cells, which in turn impaired the production and functioning of the epithelial cilia.

The researchers also found that even low-level concentrations of both chemicals can affect gene expression in epithelial cells. It is illustrated here that the accepted safe concentration limits regarding the current exposure of workers in the production lines of these two chemical food additives are also still dangerous. For people who smoke less, smoke fewer e-cigarettes, or are less exposed to secondhand smoke, the same harm can be done.