Cutting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes can reduce cigarette use and dependence, according to a recent study.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found that nicotine content is a significant determinant of cigarette use and dependence. Reduced nicotine content cigarettes reduced exposure to nicotine, nicotine dependence, and craving when participants were abstinent from cigarettes, Reuters Health reported.
"This is a very different approach, and this one might make smokers less dependent on cigarettes and better able to quit," Eric Donny, lead author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health.
For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from 840 people. The double-blind, parallel, randomized clinical trial had participants smoke for six weeks--either their usual brand or one of six investigational cigarettes--that varied in nicotine content from 15.8 mg/g tobacco (typical of commercial brands) to 0.4 mg/g.
When smoking levels were examined at six weeks, researchers found that an 85 to 97 percent reduction in nicotine content reduced cigarette consumptions by 23 percent, Reuters Health reported.
"The evidence is getting stronger that reducing nicotine reduces smoking and makes people less addicted to cigarettes and, in doing so, might make them more likely to quit," Donny told USA Today.
Based on their findings, researchers concluded that nicotine content can affect cigarette use and dependence. This is important because the Food and Drug Administration now has the authority to regulate how much nicotine goes in a cigarette.
The findings are detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine.
