Answer, nicotine has no caloric value.
Some e-cigars may contain calorie traces in their additives. For instance, some vaping liquids often contain a few calories. These calories are often attributed to the flavor agents. Much of those calories are burnt off when vaping.
Therefore, you are unlikely to gain any significant weight due to nicotine consumption, particularly through vaping. Note that there are other health concerns associated with smoking or vaping. For example, vaping is linked to bronchiolitis obliterans, which is also known as popcorn lung. This is a rare condition that leads to inflammation and scarring of the bronchioles.
Just like smoking typical cigarettes, vaping e-cigars releases various chemicals that inflame your lungs. This can lead to significant scarring and restriction of your airways. Eventually, this creates an effect with symptoms that mimic COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
How Vaping or Smoking Affects Appetite
The European Respiratory Society International Congress conducted a study in 2016 to determine if and how nicotine affected the user’s appetite and intake of calories. For two days, the study participants were required to smoke their favorite cigarettes.
About 45 minutes after smoking, the participants were asked to eat snacks offered by the study organizers. The researchers recorded each participant’s feelings and thoughts related to cravings and preferences for snacks.
No restrictions were placed on any of the study participants on what or how much food they were allowed to eat. Another group of the study participants was asked to hold a cigarette for 15 minutes (not smoke it) and required to eat 45 minutes later. The researchers recorded their thoughts and eating habits, such as cravings.
The next step involved taking blood samples from the two groups and assessing their hormone levels. The researchers found that the study participants who smoked before eating had 152 fewer calories. They assessed the ghrelin, a special hormone linked to appetite control. This hormone was lower about 60 minutes after smoking.
That means the study participants felt full and were less likely to eat as much food as the participants who didn’t smoke. Sure, nicotine suppress appetite. However, the negative health impact of smoking outweighs any weight loss benefits you’re likely to get from appetite suppression.
Bottom Line
Nicotine doesn’t contain any calories. However, some additives in nicotine-containing vape juice may have traces of calories. Note that consuming nicotine may suppress appetite. Vaping or smoking isn’t worth the long-term health challenges associated with consuming tobacco and other nicotine-containing products.
Note that there are other healthier ways to lose weight or maintain the recommended weight level without exposing yourself to the risk of lung and esophagus cancer. If you have been consuming nicotine, you may want to consider changing your relationship with that compound.