The concept is fascinating: message receptors in the brain tell your body you’ve eaten. Introducing Vaportrim, a new entry into the diet market. It is a plastic cylindrical device, the size of a ballpoint pen, that looks like an embellished electronic cigarette. The cylinder, or cartridge, contains a liquid solution of water and flavors (natural and artificial) in a glycerin base, along with an atomizer, a tiny heating element. When you inhale with your mouth, the liquid passes through the atomizer, turning into a vapor. The vapor is held in your mouth and exhaled, just like smoking. Vaportrim comes in 14 flavors including raspberry cheesecake, milk chocolate, vanilla cupcake, and cinnamon bun.
The manufacturer says it works because our smell receptors message our brain, which, in turn, release hormones that tell the body it’s full. Legitimate research does show that appetite and smell are closely connected and smell can trigger fullness before the stomach can, but whether Vaportrim can curb cravings is unknown. No research has been done using the actual product for appetite suppression or weight control. Le Whif is a similar diet aid, but with it, vapor is not exhaled, and the Sensa Sprinkle Diet, also relies on smell receptors, but calls for sprinkling crystals on your food.
I tested Vaportrim on six adults. Everyone agreed the sensation and action felt like smoking. It reminded one young taster of hookah smoking; she thought that was fun. As a former smoker, it felt too familiar to me and was, therefore, scary. Three over-40 year olds could not taste the flavors and complained of a chemical aftertaste, but the 20-something testers could taste and identify the flavors correctly. They called the flavors “fake but sweet” in an acceptable way, like flavored lipstick.
Personally, I could only taste the flavor with a French inhale where you take a deep drag, and then with the mouth slightly open, force the smoke to drift out and up into the nose.
Vaportrim does not contain drugs, still, I can’t be sure the device does not carry health risks, or that it won’t have a potentially dangerous appeal to non-smokers. The product doesn’t need FDA approval under DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act); however, all of the ingredients are classified as FDA-GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe). Each Vaportrim stick cost $9.95 and it is good for around 50 ‘servings’ of eight to ten puffs, each containing zero calories. Vaportrim is available on the internet and by calling a toll free number.