News Release

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

NIH-funded study finds teens prefer mint and mango vaping flavors

A new analysis suggests that teens prefer mint and mango as their vaping flavors of choice for e-cigarettes. Previous research showed that teens were attracted to nicotine vaping by the candy and fruit-flavored products offered by manufacturers. Products and trends are quickly evolving, and estimates of the specific e-cigarette flavors teens use are lacking; therefore, scientists wanted to find out which flavors are now preferred by teens. The report, published in JAMA, was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products. NIDA and NCI are parts of the National Institutes of Health.

The study focused on JUUL products, the most widely used brand, which is available in multiple flavors. Data were from the 2019 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, which annually surveys eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students in U.S. schools. A randomly-selected third of MTF respondents were asked, “Which JUUL flavor do you use most often?”

The 2019 data suggests that among both 12th and 10th graders, mint and mango ranked first and second (at about 47% and 24% for seniors; 44% and 27% for 10th graders). Among eighth graders, mango was most popular at 34%, followed by mint at 29%. In all grades, fruit flavoring was ranked third, followed by “Other.” Menthol was among the least popular (less than 2.3% for eighth graders; less than 3% for 10th graders and less than 6% for seniors).

The overall 2019 Monitoring the Future vaping data released last month showed a significant increase in past month vaping of nicotine in each of the three grade levels since last year. Additional findings from the 2019 Monitoring the Future Survey, documenting the use of and attitudes about marijuana, alcohol and other drugs, will be released in December.

For more information about vaping, go to Tobacco/Nicotine and Vaping.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDA's DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or fax or email requests to 240-645-0227 or drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at https://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDA's media guide can be found at https://drugabuse.gov/mediaguide.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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Article

Flavors of E-Cigarettes Used by Youth in the United States,” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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