Vitamin Vape Is Not the Health Trend You Want to Follow

Vitamin vapes have become increasingly popular in recent years, though experts said the devices may not necessarily be healthy.

The vaping devices—which don’t include nicotine—are touted as wellness products, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cautioned against them. In a 2021 statement, the agency warned that “some vaping products are being illegally offered for sale with unproven health or wellness claims.”

Experts said that though they’re growing in popularity, there’s no way to know what chemicals are in vitamin vapes since the FDA doesn’t regulate them like medications.

“I wouldn’t recommend that people inhale vitamins through a vaping device, in part because of issues [related to vaping] that have happened previously,” Michael Ong, MD, PhDprofessor in residence of Medicine and Health Policy and Management at UCLA, told Verywell. “Prior to COVID-19, we saw a lot of young individuals hospitalized, on ventilators because of e-cigarette and vaping injury.”

Some of the harmful ingredients that have been in previous iterations of vapes and e-cigarettes may also be in vitamin vapes. “Quite honestly, nobody’s really going to know what’s in these,” Dr. Ong explained.

Are Vitamin Vapes Safe?

Online reviews of vitamin vapes often claim the devices can help people with a myriad of health issues, including mental health conditions like anxiety.

However, experts said that, despite the fact that vitamin vapes have been growing in popularity, there’s no evidence to suggest that vitamin vapes help with anything.

“We actually don’t know much about vitamin vapes in terms of if they would provide any benefit or risk just because it’s something that’s new,” Humberto Choi, MDa pulmonologist at Cleveland Clinic, told Verywell. This goes for all health claims that the makers of vitamin vapes say their devices can help with, experts said.

The devices haven’t been around long enough for researchers to have sufficient data to say they’re harmful, but given the injuries vapes have caused in the past, there’s reason to believe vitamin vapes may also come with downsides, Dr. Choi said.

“Historically, we have seen [vaping] can be dangerous,” Dr. Choi said. “The best example I can give is from the outbreak of acute lung inflammation right before the COVID-19 pandemic. There were a lot of young people who got sick, hospitalized, some people even died because of [injuries] associated with vaping.”

Though research on vapes is still developing, experts have theories as to what may have caused the illnesses; Dr. Ong said: “The agent that might have led to [that outbreak] is called vitamin E acetate, [which] is something used to make the liquid look more viscous.”

There’s no reason to believe that “healthy vapes” or “vitamin vapes” don’t include the same harmful agents that other vapes have included, such as vitamin E acetate, Dr. Ong said.

In addition to vitamin E acetate, some ingredients in vapes—including vitamin vapes—may be unsafe when consumed in vape form, even if they’re otherwise safe for consumption. “We know that some things that are safe when ingested are not necessarily safe when heated in a vape pen and then inhaled,” Dr. Ong explained.

Are Vitamin Vapes Better Than Traditional Vitamins?

Researchers don’t know how or if people can absorb vitamins when they’re consumed through a vaping device.

But given that some other substances can be absorbed that way—for instance, when medications are distributed via inhalers—the devices could effectively deliver vitamins to the body. “I think the answer is most likely that some are going to be absorbed throughout the body,” Dr. Choi said.

That said, the risks outweigh the potential benefits for people looking for ways to consume their vitamins. “It’s pretty hard to recommend [vitamin vapes] when there are other [proven] ways to get your vitamins,” Dr. Ong said.

Some e-cigarettes or vapes that contain nicotine may help people work toward smoking cessation, though research on this topic is limited.

But vitamin vapes without nicotine don’t fall into this category and, as such, may not provide any benefit to people who are trying to stop smoking cigarettes. If you are looking for help with smoking cessation, experts said you should speak with a physician who can help you determine whether nicotine products may help.

Given that vitamin vapes have no proven benefits, it may be more cost-efficient—and healthier—to stick with regular vitamins or include more vitamin-rich foods in your diet, experts said.

Dr. Ong also noted that vapes and e-cigarettes are often promoted among young people and that parents should know that vitamin vapes could be dangerous for their children.

“It’s important for parents to be able to talk with their children to understand what type of things they are participating in,” Dr. Ong said. “In general, these types of products are not something any pediatrician would recommend.”