Increasing the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products will prevent or delay initiation of tobacco use by adolescents and young adults, according to a recent study.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine estimates that the likely reduction in tobacco-use initiation that would be achieved by raising the minimum age for tobacco products to either 19 years old, 21 years old, or 25 years, and used two tobacco-use simulation models to quantify the accompanying public health outcomes, Reuters reported.

Raising the MLA to tobacco products to 21 likely will have a substantially greater impact on reducing the initiation of tobacco use -- defined as having smoked 100 cigarettes -- than raising it to 19. However, the added effect of raising the minimum age beyond age 21 to age 25 would probably be considerably smaller, according to the report.

Underage users rely primarily on social sources - friends and relatives - to get tobacco, and there is little evidence that these individuals are obtaining tobacco from the illegal commercial market. Between ages 15 and 17, mobility increases with driving privileges, and social networks and potential sources of tobacco start to increase as some adolescents take on part-time jobs with co-workers who may be over the minimum age. Therefore, increasing the minimum age to 19 may not change social sources substantially for this age group, but raising it to 21 is likely to have a considerable impact on initiation.

Over the past 50 years, tobacco control efforts in the U.S. have led to an estimated 8 million fewer premature deaths. However, tobacco use continues to significantly affect public health, and more than 40 million Americans still smoke. Although the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad authorities over tobacco products, it prohibited FDA from establishing a nationwide MLA for tobacco products above 18 years of age.

According to the report, if the minimum age were raised now, in 2100 there would be approximately a 3 percent decrease in smoking prevalence for an MLA of 19, a 12 percent decrease for an MLA of 21, and a 16 percent decrease for an minimum age of 25.

Although most states currently set the minimum age of legal access at 18, Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah have increased the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 19 years old. New York City and some cities in Massachusetts have increased it to 21 years old.