While coconut oil has advantages, it is not advised for use in the lungs. Its vapours may be toxic to breathe in.
How does vaping coconut oil affect you?
As you'd imagine, there isn't much study on vaping coconut oil as experts are still finding about the possible risks relating to the practice.
How about MCT oil?
The safety of vaping MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil is a prominent topic of debate online.
As MCT is not a long-chain triglyceride, many people claim that it is safe. Others claim that it's equally damaging to eat as coconut oil. There are also those who say that there has not been sufficient research to make a definitive conclusion.
Despite the benefits, coconut oil shouldn't be applied to the lungs. Its vapours might be harmful to breathe in.
What is known is that samples of vape fluids from a handful of people with e-cigarette or vaping product use-related lung injury have been shown to contain both coconut oil and MCT oil.
As heated, MCT oil also releases a number of hydrocarbons and reactive aldehydes. The lungs might be inflamed and damaged by these toxins.
Yet, some research strongly warns against inhaling "any oils/fats or fumes that contain them, regardless of how 'wholesome' the oil could be." There isn't enough evidence to definitively conclude either is safe.
Safer options:
It's not completely safe to vape.
There are good alternatives if you're pondering that bottle of coconut oil as you enjoy the feeling of vaping but don't really require nicotine.
Many vape solutions without nicotine are offered for this particular use. Just be cautious to buy them from reliable sources.
But, if you're set on a do-it-yourself fix, you could use propylene glycol or basic vegetable glycerin, which are both important ingredients of e-cigarettes.
Yet neither of these comes without danger.
A study found that even when taken alone with flavours, pure vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol are harmful to cells.
Also, a research reveals that propylene glycol and glycerol harm capillary vessels and decreased blood flow.
The conclusion:
While coconut oil may be healthy to consume, this doesn't necessarily mean that it is healthy to breathe.
The effects of vaping need further research. Even otherwise incredibly healthy substances like coconut or MCT oil should not be added to vape products till we discover more.
