With e-liquids boasting mouthwatering flavors like apple pie, caramel, and churros, it’s natural to wonder: just how many calories are you taking in with each vape puff? Let’s dive into the facts and debunk common myths about vaping and calories.

What’s in E-Liquid? Only Two Ingredients Add Calories

E-liquids are made from four main components: vegetable glycerin (VG), propylene glycol (PG), nicotine, and flavorings. But not all of these contribute to calorie counts:

• Vegetable Glycerin (VG): A plant-based sugar alcohol found in foods like ice cream and baked goods, VG is thick and syrup-like, ideal for producing vapor. It contains about 4 calories per gram (similar to sugar) but is inhaled, not eaten—so it doesn’t affect the body like food calories.
• Flavorings: These mix natural and artificial substances (like sweeteners or extracts) to create unique tastes. Dessert-inspired flavors may have tiny traces of calories, but they’re negligible and processed differently than if you ate the actual dessert.
• Propylene Glycol (PG): A thin, slightly sweet liquid that enhances flavor and throat hit. It has no calories because the body metabolizes it differently than food.
• Nicotine: The stimulant in e-liquids, nicotine has zero calories and doesn’t impact the overall calorie count.

How Many Calories Are Actually in E-Liquid?

Let’s break it down: A typical 60ml bottle of high-VG e-liquid might have around 240 calories total. But per puff? Far less than 1 calorie. Even finishing an entire bottle would mean fewer calories than a small snack.

For example, a 60ml e-liquid with 70% VG (common in many blends) contains roughly 140–180 calories. Spread over days or weeks of vaping, this adds up to almost no impact on your daily calorie intake.

Do Flavors Boost Calories? Hardly.

While some flavorings use sugar-based or carbohydrate-derived ingredients, their calorie contribution is minimal. Artificial sweeteners like sucralose—often used to enhance sweetness—add no meaningful calories, as the body doesn’t metabolize them like regular sugar.

In short: Vaping a cookie dough-flavored e-liquid won’t give you the same calories as eating a real cookie.

Vaping and Weight: It’s About Nicotine, Not Calories

Does vaping cause weight gain or loss? The answer lies in nicotine, not calories:

• Nicotine interacts with the brain’s reward system, triggering dopamine release (a “pleasure” neurotransmitter). This can mimic the feeling of eating, reducing hunger and curbing cravings.
• Studies from the National Library of Medicine suggest nicotine may lead to slight weight loss by reducing calorie intake or replacing unhealthy eating habits.
• For 0mg nicotine e-liquids, there’s no such effect—so weight changes here are unrelated to vaping itself.

The Bottom Line

E-liquids do contain calories, but in amounts comparable to toothpaste or aromatherapy oils—tiny and irrelevant to your diet. Since vaping involves inhaling, not eating, these calories aren’t processed like food.

Weight changes linked to vaping stem from nicotine’s appetite-suppressing effects, not calorie intake. So, if you’re eyeing that caramel-flavored vape, rest easy: its calorie impact is next to nothing.