Assessing the nicotine content of smoked and smokeless forms of Tobacco Available in Bhopal

Abuse of tobacco, such as drug and alcohol abuse, is a worldwide public health problem. Once a person is addicted to nicotine, quitting smoking is difficult. A measure of the addictive potential of tobacco products is the amount of nicotine available from them. The present study is an attempt to assess the nicotine content of tobacco products available in Bhopal. Aims: This study aims to assess the nicotine content of some popular brands of smoked (cigarettes and bidis) and chewed forms (pan masalas containing tobacco) of tobacco available in Bhopal. Settings and Design: This was an in vitro cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: Six brands of cigarettes (filtered), six brands of bidis, and six brands of chewed tobacco (pan masalas) were used for the study. The methodology published by Association of Official Analytical Chemists was followed, and reagents conforming to American Chemical Society specifications were used. Statistical Analysis Used: One-way ANOVA, Bonferroni post hoc test. Results: The mean nicotine levels for cigarettes, bidis, and chewed tobacco were 7.84 ± 5.10, 16.86 ± 5.66, and 16.30 ± 3.33, respectively. The differences in the mean scores were compared using one-way ANOVA and were found to be statistically significant with F = 6.636 and P = 0.009. Bonferroni post hoc test assessed the difference in mean nicotine content among the groups indicating that the difference between cigarettes versus bidis and cigarette versus chewed tobacco was significant with P = 0.016 and 0.024, respectively. Conclusions: Bidis had the highest content of nicotine, followed by chewed tobacco (pan masalas) and cigarettes.

Use of Nicotine Gums, Tablets and Lozenges: A Review.

Difficulty quitting is best predicted by how much one smoke on a daily basis and smoking within 30 min of waking up each day, both of which are measures of nicotine dependence. It has now been established that tobacco smoking often involves dependence to nicotine. This is usually seen as a problem, but often as an opportunity. The cigarette is the most contaminated drug-delivery device. If nicotine is largely what the smoker needs, the use of nicotine from alternative sources to sustain smoking reduction could be exploited for long-term harm reduction to the smoker unable to quit.

Use of Nicotine Mouth Sprays for Tobacco Cessation: A Review.

Smoking is a taboo, and a smoker fails in quitting despite repeated attempts as tobacco in all forms contain a highly addictive chemical nicotine making it difficult for habituated tobacco users to quit. Its addictive potential is considered to be even more than cocaine or heroin. It is due to the dependency caused by the nicotine that smokers become dependent and cause severe withdrawal symptoms. Hence, nicotine replacement therapy came into play to aid in tobacco cessation. There are currently various nicotine replacement therapies, which are available currently for tobacco abstinence. In this article, we shall discuss nicotine nasal spray, mouth spray, and the nicotine inhaler.