A recent study, published in the America Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, says that some e-cigarette liquid flavors contain more than a dozen chemicals and are most harmful for your health.

According to recent findings, chocolate-flavored e-cigarettes are “particularly harmful” to the lungs. In fact, scientists discovered that all ten tastes examined were harmful to the cells lining the lungs, resulting in cell death in some cases.

Toxins also drastically impaired immune system cells’ ability to eliminate germs and manage inflammation.

The data show that the chemical profiles of the e-liquid flavors studied (apple, banana, bubblegum, cappuccino, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, mango, peppermint and tobacco) contained as many as 15 chemicals.

The most harmful flavors, such as chocolate and banana, included high levels of a chemical component called a benzene ring. Flavors with a lower concentration of benzene ring were less harmful.

The researchers also found different brands of chocolate and banana flavored e-liquids with lower amounts of benzene ring chemicals were also less harmful.

The purpose of the study, according to researchers, was to determine whether immune dysfunction and toxicity in the lungs previously observed in earlier studies were dependent on the flavor used, independent of the presence of nicotine.

To find out, they exposed lung cells of healthy, non-smoking subjects to the e-cigarette vapor produced from different flavors.

“We believe that this study provides evidence that the potential harm from using flavors does not come from the name on the bottle, but rather the flavoring chemical composition, the flavoring chemicals present and their concentration,” said researcher Miranda Ween, PhD, of Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia.

“This suggests that any limits on permitted flavors should be based on this sort of data specifically to ensure that allowed products truly represent the lowest level of harm possible.”

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