In
an academic first, researchers from Penn State University have published an
informative, straightforward and unexaggerated study about JUUL
e-cigarettes. Their work appears in JAMA Network
Open.
Jessica
Yingst and colleagues evaluated the blood nicotine absorption profile of six
JUUL users. The volunteers abstained
from nicotine use for 14 hours prior to testing. They then puffed on their own JUULs every 20
seconds for 10 minutes. Yingst and
colleagues collected blood samples.
Here
are the results: “Among experienced users…, the [JUULs] delivered a mean
nicotine
boost of 28.6 ng/mL in a mean of 8.7 minutes. This is higher and faster than
the mean nicotine
boost obtained from “cigalike”…devices (…1.8 ng/mL, 10 minutes) and advanced…devices
(…10.8 ng/mL, 12.1 minutes) using the same puffing schedule.”
As
seen in the following chart, there was considerable variation in the levels of
blood nicotine achieved by the six participants, even though they were puffing
at the same rate. Two got big nicotine
kicks, while the others had more modest elevations. However, all volunteers had higher nicotine
levels than seen with other e-cigarettes.
Yingst
concluded: “This study is the first, to our knowledge, to show that JUUL
delivers a higher and faster boost in blood nicotine than has been reported for
most other [vaping] devices… Compared with studies reporting the nicotine boost
obtained after smoking 1 cigarette, this product’s nicotine delivery was
similar.”
The
Penn State study appears to be the first to present valuable information about
e-cigarettes without demonizing the products.
One of the article’s only subjective statements – an accurate one -- is
at its close: “The nicotine delivery capabilities of this [vapor] device may
contribute to its addictiveness as well as its ability to compete with
cigarettes for market share.”
JUULs
are popular with smokers because they deliver the nicotine kick that smokers
seek. That is why the brand has dominant
market share among U.S. adults.
