Effect of flavour manipulation on ENDS (JUUL) users’ experiences, puffing behaviour and nicotine exposure among US college students.

Introduction:
This text provides an analysis of a study examining the impact of electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) flavour manipulation on user’s puffing behavior, subjective experience, harm perception, and nicotine exposure among college-aged ENDS users. The study compares JUUL users’ responses to their own preferred JUUL pod flavour to the classic tobacco-flavoured JUUL pod.

Key Points:

* The study found that switching from preferred to tobacco-flavoured ENDS is strongly associated with a reduction in users’ subjective positive experiences.
* The study demonstrates that ENDS flavour is likely to have an important role in current ENDS users’ satisfaction, use pleasure and product appeal.
* The majority of young ENDS users cited popular fruit and menthol/mint as their preferred ENDS flavours.
* The 2019 NYTS found that 97% of ENDS users among youth reported using a flavoured product in the last month, and 70% cited flavours as the reason for their use.
* The study was conducted in a controlled lab setting, with participants using their session-designated pod flavour ad libitum for up to 60 minutes.
* Blood samples were drawn immediately before and after the ENDS use period at each laboratory visit and analysed for nicotine concentration.
* The study found that while nicotine levels significantly increased in both conditions from pre to post session, there were no significant differences in nicotine boost levels or on puff topography parameters when comparing both flavour conditions.

Main Message:
The main message of this study is that ENDS flavour has a substantial effect in enhancing young current ENDS users’ experiences, product appeal and motivation to use the product in the future. The study highlights that limiting flavours could play a potential role when designing strategic policies to reduce the appeal of ENDS use among young people.

Vargas-Rivera M, Ebrahimi Kalan M, Ward-Peterson M, et al. Effect of flavour manipulation on ENDS (JUUL) users’ experiences, puffing behaviour and nicotine exposure among US college students. Tobacco control. Published online May 23, 2020. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055551