I recently learned, thanks to an article in the Huffington Post, that there are now more former smokers in the USA than there are current smokers. This is absolutely fantastic news and shows just how determined many nicotine addicts are to kick the habit. After all, giving up using this drug is just about the hardest thing you can do and most people needing several attempts in order to be successful.
Although it’s great news that more smokers are now managing to quit, there are still a depressing 46 million people who light up on a regular basis. It’s not that these addicts are happy to be using cigarettes, most of them would do just about anything to quit if they thought it would work. Indeed, this is the very reason that nicotine replacement therapies, hypnosis sessions, and stop smoking books are so popular.
What if there was a way for the smokers who can’t quit to get that regular nicotine fix their bodies crave without doing so much damage to their health? That’s the promise of a new device which was the subject of the Huffington Post article mentioned above. It’s called the electronic cigarette, and it’s coming to a shopping mall near you, if it hasn’t already.
The electronic cig is a hi-tech alternative to the regular cigarette which delivers a cleaner form of nicotine in a vapor which feels very similar to real smoke. Although it might sound like the perfect answer to the health problems of the world’s smokers it has been at the center of a lot of controversy since it was released just a few short years ago. Many stop smoking groups have attacked the device because they contend that it keeps users addicted to the nicotine they are trying to get off, much in the way that traditional NRTs do. Agencies such as the FDA on the other hand say that it shouldn’t be allowed to be sold until it has been proved to be completely safe and we know that it can really help people quit.
Pleasingly studies have started to come out over the last year or so which show this device can actually help some people to quit, while many doctors are agreeing that it is almost certainly far healthier than using tobacco.
Perhaps the most promising study released so far is the “Effect of an Electronic Nicotine Delivery Device (e-Cigarette) on Smoking Reduction and Cessation” by Riccardo Polosa. The results showed there was a 50% reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day in over 30% of participants who started using an e cigarette, while an amazing 22.5% had managed to quit altogether. The incredible thing about this study was that the participants were chosen from smokers who weren’t even motivated to quit in the first place.
In my opinion we are going to see a lot more positive studies coming out in favor of the use of these electronic cigarette products as an alternative to tobacco. Whether this will bring stop smoking groups and the FDA onside remains to be seen, as many of them have a financial interest in the status quo. It will also be interesting to see if the E cigarette catches on in China where the typical male smokes.
