SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health says new survey data show a significant increase in electronic cigarette use among both adults and teenagers.

The long-term health effects of the devices are still unclear.

“The marketers and the producers of this product are selling them like hotcakes,” said Adam Bramwell, a health department spokesman. But “any really quality research takes time. You want long-term studies to really know what these can do to a person’s body over time.”

About 5 percent of Utahans surveyed last year said they used the battery-powered devices that typically heat liquid nicotine into a vapor, compared with about 2 percent the year before.

Aaron Frazier, director of Utah Vapers, an e-cigarette industry group, said that most customers he’s dealt with don’t use both cigarettes and e-cigarettes; those who do could be trying to get off cigarettes.

“When you look at the continuum of risk, these products are minuscule in comparison,” he said.

The devices could be more attractive to kids than cigarettes because they aren’t as harsh on the throat, and the liquid nicotine that comes in flavors such as cherry cheesecake and Mountain Dew is more appealing than tobacco.

“Whether you are an adult or a teenager, these flavors are tempting,” Bramwell said. “Before you know it, that kid is unwittingly building a nicotine addiction within him, which, in most cases, last an individual’s entire lifetime.”