Does Vaping Cause Weight Gain?
Tobacco cigarettes kills millions of smokers every year, and yet some of them won’t even give e-cigarettes a chance for fear that vaping will make them gain weight.
I never knew that people were even worried about getting fat as a result of vaping, but according to Google search result data, that is something that many are concerned about. If you’re smoking tobacco, a few extra pounds should be the least of your worries. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, with over 7 million people succumbing to smoking-related conditions every year, so putting on a few extra pounds doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.
That said, there is absolutely no medical or scientific evidence that using electronic cigarettes causes weight gain. No matter what you may have heard or read on the internet, there is no way to support such claims. More often than not, vaping is just a convenient scape goat to place the blame on, but looking at the facts, it’s easy to see that it’s not what’s making you fat.
First, let’s look at what is in the e-liquid we vape. There’s the base, which consists of vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, or both, artificial flavorings, sweeteners and nicotine. A lot of people, even experienced vapers, believe that if an e-liquid is super sweet, it has a lot of calories, and thus can make you fat. That’s just wrong, e-liquid contains 4-5 calories per milliliter, and its sweetness has nothing to do with its capacity to cause weight gain.
You know those extremely sweet vapes that give you “sugar lips” (when you lick your lips after vaping you can actually taste the sugar)? Well, that’s the sweetener in the juice, most likely sucralose, although ethyl maltol and erythritol are also sometimes used. The thing is, all these sweeteners are calorie-free, they aren’t metabolized, which means they pass through your system without suffering virtually any changes.
And even if you were worried that those 4-5 calories per milliliter could add up, you would literally have to drink the juice, not vape it, in order for these extra calories to actually influence your body weight. Most people vape under 10ml of juice per day, some as little as 2-3 ml, so it’s fair to say that the caloric potential of e-liquid is negligible.
Then there is the nicotine. Studies have shown that it can suppress the appetite, which may be one of the reasons why smokers tend to eat less. However, keep in mind that this property is directly tied to the amount of nicotine you vape. In any case, there is no evidence that nicotine somehow causes wright gain, in fact, all evidence points to the contrary.
However, there are some secondary factors we need to take into account in order to paint a full picture. For example, tobacco smoke contains hundreds of chemicals, some of which may actually suppress the appetite even more than nicotine, so when you switch to a less dangerous alternative, you tend to eat a little more.
Another thing to think about is how a lot of people react after giving up smoking. Even though vaping usually does a great job of replacing smoking as a means of delivering nicotine, it’s not a perfect “fix”, so many ex-smokers experience anxiety and restlessness. This ca also lead to overeating, as a way of mitigating these feelings.
Finally, it’s a known fact that smoking numbs senses like smell and taste, so when you give up tobacco cigarettes, taste and smell come back, so food and drinks taste better. Obviously, you tend to grab another piece of dessert if you can actually sense how good it smells and tastes.
So if you’re worried that getting your senses back and experiencing things as they are meant to be experienced will make you gain weight, I guess you may be right, technically. But that’s not vaping making you fat, and the sooner you admit that the better off you’ll be. Better yet, stop worrying about trivial things and look at the big picture!
If you’re serious about giving up smoking and want to give vaping a try, the thing you should be concerned about is choosing the right electronic cigarette for a beginner, finding an e-liquid you can at least tolerate, and making sure the nicotine dose is enough to keep your addiction in check.
