COLORADO, USA — Just like e-cigarettes and vaping, Zyn nicotine pouches are the newest, potentially harmful craze among middle and high school students.
The little, white, rectangular pouches are filled with nicotine and meant to be put underneath the lip.
9NEWS parenting expert Dr. Sheryl Ziegler said parents need to be aware of this product and what it looks like.
"It’s in a round tin, the way that dip or chewing tobacco was in," Ziegler said. "They put it underneath their lip, so if you see a little lump in your kid’s mouth be like, 'What’s in your mouth?'"
Ziegler said she's seeing it all over social media, targeting adolescents.
"They call themselves 'zyn-fluencers.' They’ve got a name. They make it look fun," Ziegler said. "Because there’s not this plume of smoke coming out [of their mouths] it might seem like to a teenager, it’s not that bad."
She said online, people can be seen putting multiple pouches into their mouths at once, sometimes getting sick or throwing up.
Dr. Ziegler said long-term health outcomes from using these pouches are currently unknown. Low levels of harmful substances like ammonia and formaldehyde have also been found in the products.
"The thought is there might some cardiovascular outcomes but we just don’t know," said Dr. Ziegler. "We won’t know for a while."
Zyn pouches come in all kinds of flavors like mint, coffee, and cinnamon, which can be attractive to younger people.
Ziegler said the pouches are discreet, smokeless and can be used virtually anywhere. She said parents should have a conversation with their kids explaining to them how it may negatively affect their health.
"Even if you don’t know that much about it, learn with them, 'Hey, I heard about this thing. Do you know about it? Do you know people that use it? What do you think about it?'" she said. "So, keeping an open conversation, not freaking out, not being too judgmental but just staying, 'I’m just learning about this. This is really too bad. What do you know about it?'"
Zyn pouches have been around for the last decade, but just recently started getting popular with kids.
Ziegler said she worries the pouches will be used by kids in addition to things like vaping, further worsening their addiction to nicotine.
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