Flavour additives a leading cause of young people starting to use e-cigarettes

Young people also have a perception that e-cigarettes with the flavour of fruit, for example, are less harmful to health than e-cigarettes with the flavour of tobacco. Restrictions and regulations on flavour additives in e-cigarettes and e-liquids are therefore highly likely to have an impact on the use of these products by young people.

Our latest report,The significance of flavour additives in the use of moist snuff and e-cigarettes – with a focus on young people and the Nordic region, is based on some of the research that is available in the field.

– The articles we have found that are relevant to the subject are based on American data, but they still give us reason to believe that the same issues may apply to young Nordic people. In the Nordic countries, we generally see a higher consumption of moist snuff and e-cigarettes among the younger age groups than the average for all age groups, says Nadja Frederiksen, Senior Adviser at the Nordic Welfare Centre.

Iceland has the highest consumption of e-cigarettes in the Nordic region

Norway and Sweden have among the lowest prevalences for daily tobacco smoking in the Nordic region, but in contrast the prevalences for daily use of moist snuff are high. Moist snuff is a particular preference in terms of the choice of tobacco among men.

– E-cigarettes are a more recently arrived product on the Nordic market and not all countries have systematic data on their use. Data is slowly starting to filter through, however, and in many places questions about the use of e-cigarettes are becoming an integral part of national public surveys, says Frederiksen.

The data available for the Nordic countries shows that Iceland has the highest consumption of e-cigarettes. New figures here show that the proportion of men and women (total) (18+ years) using e-cigarettes daily is 4.8 percent.

Need for systematic data on the use of moist snuff and e-cigarettes

Moist snuff and e-cigarettes generally help to increase the overall proportion of nicotine dependents in the Nordic region and these products are particularly popular among the young. There is therefore an ongoing need to produce new Nordic knowledge and evidence regarding the use of these products, with a focus on flavour additives among other things, which can be used in a structural and preventive manner. The report therefore proposes the following:

• All the Nordic countries collecting systematic data on the use of both moist snuff and e-cigarettes, on equal terms with tobacco smoking, in order to monitor consumption trends.
  • What proportion uses flavoured products?
• Research examining how great an impact flavour additives have on young people in the Nordic region using or starting to use moist snuff and e-cigarettes.
  • What are the young people’s perceptions of flavoured moist snuff and flavoured e-cigarettes?
• Comparing the effects of national legislation on e-cigarettes across the Nordic countries.
  • What impact, for example, does Finland’s ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes and e-liquids have on the use of these products by young people?

The significance of flavour additives in the use of moist snuff and e-cigarettes (Nordic Welfare Centre, 2019)

Smagstilsætningers betydning for brug af snus og e-cigaretter (Nordens välfärdscenter, 2019)