Pod Juice Buying Guide: Look For These 4 Red Flags When Buying E-liquids

Vape Juice Ingredients to Avoid

Knowing which vape juice ingredients to avoid is crucial. Quitting cigarettes is a massive achievement worth celebrating, but if you’re replacing one harmful addiction with another, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Fortunately, as long as you steer clear of certain juices and only support the best vape juice brands, you should be able to ditch tobacco without putting yourself in harm’s way. Always check for these four ingredients before you purchase a new juice.

1. Vitamin E Acetate

Vitamin E acetate made plenty of headlines in 2019, and not without merit. Vitamin E acetate is far-and-away the most critical vape juice ingredient to avoid, as it has been linked to over 2,000 lung injuries and almost 50 deaths, as of December 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While recognized as safe for general consumption, Vitamin E acetate is a thick, sticky substance that can get trapped in your lungs when heated and inhaled, causing serious respiratory impairment and damage.

It’s worth noting that the vast majority of health problems associated with vitamin E acetate were caused by black market THC cartridges. The average consumer probably won’t run into any nicotine e-liquids that contain it, especially now that the public is well-aware of the dangers. Of course, if you do see vitamin E acetate listed as an ingredient, avoid that company at all costs.

2. Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is an organic compound formed through natural processes in the environment as well as synthetically in many different chemical-based industries. Prolonged inhalation exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to nasal and tracheal cancers and potentially even leukemia. Formaldehyde has long been implicated as a cancer-causing chemical found in traditional cigarettes, but a growing body of research suggests that some e-cigarette emissions also contain the toxic carcinogen.

Researchers recently discovered a new form of formaldehyde in vape emissions that is caused by a reaction of formaldehyde and solvents in the e-liquids. Disturbingly, these formaldehyde hemiacetals seem to be absorbed more deeply into the lung tissue that even gaseous formaldehyde, suggesting serious danger to the end-user. Levels of both types of formaldehyde measured in this study exceeded OSHA workplace limits, making this a key vape juice ingredient to avoid. Protect yourself from exposure risk by only sourcing from the best vape juice brands that provide a Certificate of Analysis from a third-party lab that tests for formaldehyde.

3. Diacetyl

If you’re a vaping vet, you’ve probably heard the term “popcorn lung” countless times, and often from people who were less than informed.

That said, diacetyl should absolutely be on your list of vape juice ingredients to avoid because even though many cases of popcorn lung were overblown, a Harvard study has linked cases of bronchiolitis obliterans (popcorn lung) with the inhalation of diacetyl and another flavoring called 2,3-pentanedione. In other words, those rumors may not have been rumors after all.

Fortunately, the best vape juice brands have stopped using diacetyl in their products. It’s still important to be vigilant when it comes to what you put in your body. Again, there are endless non-diacetyl vape juice options out there, so there’s absolutely no need to risk it.

4. Pulegone

Pulegone is a compound extracted from plants in the mint family that was used as a mint-flavored additive in many food products such as candies and gum. After several animal studies linked the chemical to cancerous changes in the bodies of mice and rats, the FDA banned the use of synthetic pulegone from all food products in 2018. Since e-juice is not currently regulated by the FDA, some vape companies still use pulegone in their mint- and menthol-flavored products.

A recent study examined a sample of these products and discovered levels of pulegone that greatly exceeded the FDA’s required safety margin for food-grade consumption. These findings suggest another potential link between chemicals found in certain e-juices and an increased risk for cancer. This is definitely a vape juice ingredient to avoid if you see this one on the label!

Shop Smart and Stay Safe

The best way to avoid danger is to support the best vape juice brands and skip the rest. Just knowing which vape juice ingredients to avoid isn’t enough. While saving a buck or two here and there can be tempting, those bottom-of-the-barrel discount juices are usually priced so low for a reason.

Here at Pod Juice, we only use the highest quality ingredients. We produce our juices in our FDA-compliant, ISO laboratory, and we regularly send our products to independent laboratories for testing. We’re committed to full transparency about our products so that you can vape with confidence.

Scientific research on vaping is still ongoing, and there may be other dangerous ingredients out there yet to be discovered. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Stick with tried-and-true brands that have withstood the test of time.

As always, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about vape juice ingredients to avoid or to learn more about our ingredients or manufacturing process. Vape smart, be vigilant, and always check the ingredients. Try a bottle of Pod Juice, and experience the world’s best nicotine juices.