https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/health-studies/2019-09-17_uncool-mint-research.html
17 Sept. 2019
"Duke University School of Medicine researchers looked at daily pulegone exposure from mint and menthol eLiquids.
[...]
In their paper, Jabba and Jordt concluded: “Our analysis suggests that users of mint- and menthol-flavoured e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are ex- posed to pulegone levels higher than the FDA considers un- acceptable for intake of synthetic pulegone in food, and higher than in smokers of combustible menthol cigarettes.”
[...]
[In criticism of the research] Professor Paul Aveyard, Professor of Behavioural Medicine at University of Oxford, said: “This study is purporting to show that vapers are consuming worrying levels of pulegone by examining the concentration of pulegone in e-liquids and cigarettes, but it is not possible from this to assess whether people who vape menthol flavours have excess exposure to pulegone.”
“A study to examine whether there is a concern would measure pulegone concentrations in people who vaped, but the authors have not done this. The study seems to have reported on the pulegone concentration in e-liquids, making the unjustified assumption that all the pulegone in the e-liquid is absorbed.”
“We know, for example, that nearly all the nicotine in e-liquid is not absorbed either from cigarettes or from e-liquids and it is likely that most pulegone is not absorbed, as most of the vapour from e-cigarettes is exhaled.”
[Dr Lion Shahab, a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology & Public Health at University College London, also criticised the research and said] “the findings are, however, limited for a number of reasons. The study did not assess actual exposure in humans which is important because exposure is not simply a function of e-liquid constituents but also of the interaction between users and how they use e-cigarettes to warm up the e-liquid. Further, the data used to derive the likely exposure profile comes from a limited number of e-liquids assessed more than five years ago; it is therefore unclear if results apply to products used nowadays. Lastly, there are no studies which have linked the constituent considered here, pulegone, to cancer in humans.”
“By contrast, based on numerous studies of e-liquids, aerosols and actual exposure in humans we know that the level of exposure to constituents known to cause cancer in humans is magnitudes of order lower in e-cigarette users than in smokers. The results reported in this study need to be considered in this context.”
17 Sept. 2019
"Duke University School of Medicine researchers looked at daily pulegone exposure from mint and menthol eLiquids.
[...]
In their paper, Jabba and Jordt concluded: “Our analysis suggests that users of mint- and menthol-flavoured e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are ex- posed to pulegone levels higher than the FDA considers un- acceptable for intake of synthetic pulegone in food, and higher than in smokers of combustible menthol cigarettes.”
[...]
[In criticism of the research] Professor Paul Aveyard, Professor of Behavioural Medicine at University of Oxford, said: “This study is purporting to show that vapers are consuming worrying levels of pulegone by examining the concentration of pulegone in e-liquids and cigarettes, but it is not possible from this to assess whether people who vape menthol flavours have excess exposure to pulegone.”
“A study to examine whether there is a concern would measure pulegone concentrations in people who vaped, but the authors have not done this. The study seems to have reported on the pulegone concentration in e-liquids, making the unjustified assumption that all the pulegone in the e-liquid is absorbed.”
“We know, for example, that nearly all the nicotine in e-liquid is not absorbed either from cigarettes or from e-liquids and it is likely that most pulegone is not absorbed, as most of the vapour from e-cigarettes is exhaled.”
[Dr Lion Shahab, a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology & Public Health at University College London, also criticised the research and said] “the findings are, however, limited for a number of reasons. The study did not assess actual exposure in humans which is important because exposure is not simply a function of e-liquid constituents but also of the interaction between users and how they use e-cigarettes to warm up the e-liquid. Further, the data used to derive the likely exposure profile comes from a limited number of e-liquids assessed more than five years ago; it is therefore unclear if results apply to products used nowadays. Lastly, there are no studies which have linked the constituent considered here, pulegone, to cancer in humans.”
“By contrast, based on numerous studies of e-liquids, aerosols and actual exposure in humans we know that the level of exposure to constituents known to cause cancer in humans is magnitudes of order lower in e-cigarette users than in smokers. The results reported in this study need to be considered in this context.”
