Video summary
Dr. Andrew Huberman expresses deep concern regarding vaping, distinguishing it from traditional smoking primarily due to the additional toxic chemicals delivered directly to the lungs rather than just nicotine or cannabis. He highlights specific risks for women, citing a female hormone doctor who noted that vaping is associated with disruptions in egg health and quality, potentially creating mutations in eggs and causing serious endocrine issues. Furthermore, Huberman emphasizes that these toxins are mutagens capable of mutating genes in rapidly dividing cells, which increases the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and sperm abnormalities. He argues that while some individuals may have healthy children despite vaping, this does not negate the fact that they are introducing a laundry list of toxins into their bodies; he specifically notes that neurons do not turn over throughout life, meaning any chemicals crossing the blood-brain barrier will be harbored by those cells for decades until death. Huberman compares the public health impact of vaping to the opioid crisis and discusses kratom as an alternative tool for managing addiction, noting its potential benefits while acknowledging concerns about emerging dependencies among non-addicts. He reflects on historical anti-smoking campaigns that successfully reduced smoking rates by framing it as a financial drain or morally corrupting activity before shifting focus back to health risks; however, he worries that vaping has reversed these gains because the experience is far more enjoyable than smoking ever was. The availability of appealing flavors like bubblegum and raspberry unicorn dust, combined with higher nicotine doses delivered via inhalation devices without external stigma or odor, makes switching from cigarettes to vapes a net loss for public health overall. He suggests that while vaping might be less evil than traditional smoking in theory, the increased accessibility and enjoyability likely mean more people are now using it than ever smoked before, resulting in an overall degradation of population health. The core issue Huberman identifies is the rapid onset of neuromodulators like nicotine and cannabis when consumed via vapes compared to other activities such as exercise, cold plunges, or sex. He explains that the sharp slope of dopamine, epinephrine, acetylcholine increases associated with vaping creates a significantly higher addictive potential than natural behaviors. While he acknowledges that some people in his podcast community use nicotine injections for clarity and accept the side effects like elevated blood pressure and vasoconstriction to maintain focus, he maintains that there is no good reason to vape if one desires nicotine or cannabis. He advocates instead for relying on troches, patches, toothpicks, or injectables which offer a more controlled delivery method without the direct lung exposure. Ultimately, Huberman concludes that despite rare outliers who smoked their entire lives and lived into their nineties, these cases do not justify ignoring the broader dangers of inhalation toxins. He predicts that within the next five years, studies will likely confirm that vaping is detrimental to human health, particularly for developing brains exposed to high-potency substances at a rapid rate. Although he admits to occasionally using disposable vapes himself when tired or attending comedy shows in California where cannabis discussions are common, he views this as a habit rather than a solution and remains shocked by the prevalence of the practice among active individuals who mistakenly believe physical activity can offset these chemical harms. His final stance is clear: while we may not know for certain if vaping allows fewer people to smoke, the total area under the curve of public health degradation suggests that society has netted a significant loss overall from this shift in consumption habits.
Read the full video transcript
How concerned do you think we should be
about vaping we should be very concerned
so when it comes to smoking or vaping
there's the thing that's being consumed
the the thing that people are trying to
bring put in their bloodstream nicotine
cannabis Etc and let's just set those
aside I've done episodes on nicotine and
cannabis and um they have their
application they also have their
problems vaping is terrible because of
the other chemicals that delivers to the
lungs it's also very clear and we
haven't released this episode yet but I
talked to a female hormone doc from
Austin and Crawford so OBGYN you know
vaping is associated with disruptions in
egg health and what they call Egg
quality can create certain mutations in
eggs um and serious endocrine issues in
women okay um personally I find it
disgusting like I just find it like I
don't do it but when I see people vaping
like to me and listen I used to when
growing up I I I quit smoking a long
time ago but I used to smoke a bit of
nicotine growing up remember I was I was
a wild one but that's not why I did it I
just I you know nicotine works for me as
a drug and I don't do it anymore um but
vaping is so addictive it's a mutagen it
mutates the genes of cells it mutates
the genes of rapidly dividing cells most
so breast cancers ovarian cancers egg
quality you know sperm are constantly
turning over so you know people always
say no well I Vape all the time and I
got so and so pregnant or whatever you
know when I have a perfectly healthy kid
that kid might have been much healthier
and also the kid's not grown up yet like
introduce me to the kid later I wish for
that kid I pray for them but um that
they're healthy as can be but it is so
clear that you're introducing a a
laundry list of toxins to the lungs and
they're getting into the bloodstream and
there are a number of them that cross
the blood brain barrier and once they
cross the bloodb brain barrier those
neurons by virtue of the fact that
neurons don't turn over across the
lifespan you bornn with the ones you're
going to die with you might add a few
across your lifespan but your most
mostly born with the ones that you're
going to die with well they're going to
Harbor those chemicals and those
particulates and you know yes our we
have grandparents that smoked and lived
to be 90 but you know those are
generally the outliers so I I can't find
one good reason why people should Vape
if they if people want nicotine in their
system that badly and here I'm not
recommending that they would be much
better off relying on a troch or a patch
um or even toothpicks or or you know or
injectable I know people I'm not going
to in nicotine oh I'm not going to out
anyone here but I I know um people in
our podcast community that rely on
nicotine injections foral Clarity that
is so hardcore yeah I don't it it causes
um elevation in blood pressure it causes
um basoc constriction but it also will
robustly increase focus and attention
any what will tell you mainlining
nicotine you're starting to see some
companies that offer things like NAD
infusions also offer subcutaneous or or
um nicotine injections or patch or gum
yeah smoking for a very long time
everyone knows huge Campaign which I
think was pretty effective actually it's
kind of discouraging people from smoking
or at least making them aware about the
do do you remember how they got kids to
stop smoking they told them for years it
was bad for their health that didn't
work they told them um that it was
putting money in the pockets of these
like uh of like these old cackling white
guys that were like Rob their hands in
the in up in the boardroom and making a
ton of money and then it became the
rebellious thing to quit smoking that
was the effective campaign I I think
about this all the time that there was a
big push to uh both disincentivize and
make more different smoke uh make more
difficult smoking you got to go outside
there's the smoking area I remember I
worked in clubs for one year before the
smoking ban came in yeah in the UK and
then people had to go outside you know
just friction friction friction all the
way down and then vaping came in and
vaping is way more enjoyable of an
experience than smoking ever was you you
can have a higher dose of nicotine that
tastes you know enjoyable bubblegum
flavor and raspberry unicorn dust and
whatever whatever unor I know uh and
it's not going to stink the house out
you know you don't have any of the
externalities of that so I wonder
whether we have ended up in a net
benefit or net cost for public health
from switching from smoking to vaping
yeah there's an analog here with you
know Crum and opioids you know if you
really want to we just got to put
ourselves under attack by even bringing
up the topic but I did it intentionally
um you know there are things like
smoking and opioid addiction which are
it's unequivocal it's just terrible
right it crushes lives destroys lives um
yes there are those rare individuals who
smoked their whole life lived into their
90s and okay but they are outliers
um so the question is did is vaping
allowing fewer people to smoke and
therefore improving their health maybe
if they're hellbent on getting that
nicotine or cannabis into their system
and they're CH opting not to smoke and
they're going to vape instead then maybe
we have to be objective and say okay if
they are absolutely intent on on getting
it in through some inhalation device
vaping is probably better but we don't
know that for sure we actually don't
know that and then since I brought it up
and I really put the Target on myself
with this one you know I I did a post
about katom which is over the counter um
people will say it's not an opioid it
Taps the opioid system it Taps other
systems as well and a number of people
have indeed um managed to get themselves
off of opioids using katum as a bit of a
bridge kind of like the methadone heroin
thing um but the katum aicac groups are
really growing strong right now because
um there is the possibility that katum
will be made illegal in the not too
distant future and there is the reality
that some people who were never opioid
addicts have taken creatum and then get
addicted to creatum and then people
start arguing is it real addiction is it
habit forming Etc so I think the next
year or so is going to be an interesting
time for dialogue about creatum I have a
couple of guests coming on my podcast
maybe um you'll do it as well and I'd
love that if you would there's one thing
by the way folks that's so great about
the podcast space unlike other
professions we love it when one topic or
one guest shows up on multiple podcasts
because it it actually doesn't hurt any
of us and you've sent me in the last few
months you sent me uh Paul kti uh you've
sent me Rick Rubin it's and everyone's
got a different Flex right the
conversation you're going to have with
Rick or Paul is going to be way
different to the one that I'm going to
have which is going to be way different
to the one that Joe's goingon to have
yeah it's it's a it's a very different
thing than academic science than
journalism of other kinds the idea it's
it's a no scoop they you know like in
Academia or in or journalism they say oh
you know who got the scoop you know that
or you got scooped someone else put it
out first and you know in in um in
podcasting it's it's quite the opposite
so I think the katom versus I me the
katum topics can be really interesting
and important to cover but I think look
my vote is to not Vape I think um I'm
just shocked at how many people vape and
first of all it it's actually be not
unlike cigarette smoking it's expensive
that's not the main reason people avoid
it but it's a significant expense when
you add it up across the
year it's clearly addictive there's no
question about it it's it's clearly
detrimental to lung function and then
people like how it makes their brain
feel and they think that if they're
already pretty active Physically Active
then they can offset some of that and
they probably can but um I think in the
next five years or so we're just going
to see a slew of studies showing that
vaping is just bad for us especially for
the developing brain because it's
bringing in at a very rapid rate high
potency nicotine and high potency
cannabis and you know from an ly's work
and we know my colleague at Stanford
that that the the slope of that increase
in dopamine and epinephrine adrenaline
and acetylcholine is so important the
sharper that slope the faster the rise
the more addictive potential these
compounds have and so it's so far and
away different than the kind of dopamine
or epinephrine or acetylcholine increase
that one sees with exercise or with cold
plunges or with um with sex or with
these other things dancing and things
you know so and you know one of course
could be addicted to any of the other
things I just mentioned too but the the
potential for it is is far less than
something like here's my stance on it
that I I understand maybe of the two
evils vaping is less of an evil than
traditional smoking would be but I think
the enjoyability the accessibility the
fact that it isn't as stigmatized all of
that I think that it wouldn't surprise
me if more people are now going to vape
than ever previously smoked and even if
the difference between the two is is
that vaping is better that the total
area under the curve of Public Health
degradation I think that think that
we've netted a loss overall for vaping
and um you know I see dude I I I go to a
comedy show and I find myself going and
getting an Esco bar before and I'm like
what like why is it it's just habit what
is it it's like a like just a disposable
Vape you do vape I do it if I go to a
comedy show and I'm not drinking and I'm
tired so there's like a certain little
decision tree that I go through I'll do
it maybe once a month something like
what do you vape whatever whatever
disposable unpronouncable horse is
available
what my friend nitin or cannabis nitin
nicotine um we're in California so
people talk about cannabis pretty here
um interesting yeah I
think rapid onset of these
neuromodulators in the brain concerns me
um it's just it's just so different also
with with behaviors you can titrate
right you know people say well video
games cause a hugee increase in doping
okay fine but you can limit the total
amount of time that you engage you um I
think with with substances even though
you can control dose or number of of
what do they call it on the it's not
going to be like a to on the vape pen
what is it it's going to be like a like
a draw I don't know I don't know the
language vaping laring cosplay I've got
that you know I'm teaching you
everything today everything I need to
know this is good because I'm going to
be able to navigate the internet better
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