“People who smoke do not appear to extend their consumption of cigarettes as a result of they’re getting much less nicotine”.
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It is not the tobacco that harms the smoker, but rather the high levels of nicotine.
“If the FDA is to make such a determination, it requires evidence to support or refute the hypothesis that reduced-nicotine cigarettes are beneficial to public health”, Tindle said. Those involved in the test had no expressed interest in quitting smoking.
But if there’s less nicotine in cigarettes, won’t smokers just puff more to compensate? The answer is no.
Experts say longer studies are needed before formal recommendations are made.
A new study might help the push for regulations to limit nicotine in cigarettes.
“The follow-up period was relatively short – six weeks – and the study was not statistically powered to measure clinical outcomes”, said Tindle, who served as the lead study physician while working at the University of Pittsburgh through the summer of 2014.
Those who were assigned to the group with 5.2 mg of nicotine per gram smoked an average of 20.8 cigarettes per day, which did not differ significantly from the average number among those who smoked control cigarettes.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health wanted to provide the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a solid ground to reduce chemicals in tobacco-based products.
Those who smoked cigarettes with substantially lower nicotine cigarettes ended up smoking 23 to 30 percent fewer cigarettes per day. Nicotine levels varied from the usual commercial brand levels of about 15.8 mg per gram, to.
“People who smoke acquired round it by inhaling extra deeply and extra typically”. “They can require tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels”.
Individuals on the low-nicotine cigarettes additionally reported much less craving and fewer dependence. Among those who had continued to get their full fix of nicotine, 17% – about half as many – reported that they had tried to quit. Researchers have found that when cigarettes with substantially lower nicotine levels can be used to encourage smokers to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke per day.
The identical impact was seen when the nicotine stage was dropped even decrease, to zero.four mg, a degree believed to be too low to be addicting.
“The current study by Donny and colleagues adds to a growing literature supporting the feasibility and potential benefits of a national nicotine-reduction policy – one that, in our view, could help to end the devastating health consequences of combustible-tobacco use”, Michael Fiore, MD, MPH, and Timothy Baker, PhD, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
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“The FDA has the authority to set product standards for tobacco products”, Donny said.
