Using a magnetic field to alter brain activity may help some people stop smoking, according to a study.
The researchers explained that they used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to "undo" the nicotine addiction in the brain.
The results, presented at the 2013 Neuroscience conference, suggest that the technique could help people reduce consumption or even eliminate it.
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It is a preliminary investigation that requires more tests before it can be recommended as therapy.
EMT stimulates neurons to alter brain functions. It is already being used in some patients with depression.
The Ben Gurion University team in Israel used the magnetic field in two regions of the brain associated with addiction to nicotine, the prefrontal cortex and the insula.
The 115 smokers who participated in the study were divided into three groups, which for 13 days each received high frequency of EMT, another median and the last control received no treatment, respectively.
Those who were exposed to a high frequency recorded the lowest levels of smoking and were the most likely to quit at the end of the six months of the study.
The greatest success occurred when one third of the participants who were shown images of a lit cigarette during EMT therapy stopped smoking at the end of the investigation.
Experts argue that therapy can change the response of brain signals to smoking.
"Impact on smoking"
Dr. Abraham Zangen, of Ben Gurion University, said his work "shows us that we can undo some of the changes in the brain caused by chronic smoking."
"We know that many smokers want to stop or reduce the consumption of cigarettes and this could have an impact on the first cause of preventable death," he added.
For his part, Dr. Chris Chambers, who specializes in EMT at Cardiff University, told the BBC that this was an "orderly and well-controlled" study.
"Its biggest contribution is that it provides more evidence on how brain stimulation, when applied to specific parts of the frontal lobe, can improve our ability to overcome addictions."
"This is exciting and has a wide variety of applications in psychiatry," he added.
However, Chambers warned that the study has not had a peer review, so it needs to "develop a clearer understanding of why and how such a method works."
Another study presented at the same conference suggests that stimulating the brain with implanted electrodes could help fight heroin addiction.
In that work, just by pressing a lever the rats that had free access to the drug became addicted.
However, those who had a deep brain stimulation took less of the drug and did not show a pattern of increased consumption that would make them addicted.
"Any intervention that is not pharmacological will be a big step towards the treatment of drug abuse, which currently consists of replacing one drug with another and has an extremely high rate of relapse," Professor Barry Everitt commented on the two studies. , from the University of Cambridge.
Addiction to tobacco
Addiction is defined as the search or repetitive and compulsive use of a substance, despite its harmful effects and undesirable consequences. In this case, regular consumption of tobacco causes addiction in many consumers.
The dependence is not only physical, there is also a strong psychological dependence, which causes relapses after quitting smoking. This dependence may be associated, among other things, with the consumption of tobacco in the social environment or as an escape route (relaxation) in the event of unpleasant events or emotions. About 70% of smokers report that they want to quit smoking and about half try to quit, but only between 4% and 7% get it without outside help.
Smoking causes harmful effects in the short term, such as a decrease in lung capacity that causes breathing problems, coughing and fatigue often appears more quickly during physical activity. It also causes changes in the senses of smell and taste, premature aging of the skin, periodontitis and gingivitis. In addition, the smoker is more prone to stomach ulcers, heart and blood vessel problems and has less immunity to infections than those who do not smoke.
On the other hand, there are serious long-term consequences of the consumption of this substance. It is the leading cause of disease, disability and mortality in the world. Every year more than 5 million people die from tobacco and it is estimated that smokers live on average 10-15 years less than non-smokers. The main causes of death from tobacco use are heart disease, cancer (the main cause of lung cancer, larynx, digestive organs and urinary system) and respiratory diseases (chronic bronchitis, emphysema, COPD, etc.).
It has been shown that professional support can multiply by 10 the chances of quitting if compared to those who try alone. There are numerous treatments both pharmacological and non-pharmacological to stop smoking, among them is the use of a transcranial electrical stimulation device (tDCS), which, acting on the reward system - mechanism that enables the appearance of an addiction-, allows to enhance the modifications at the level of neuronal connections to reduce dependency. This treatment of non-invasive brain stimulation, combined with classical cognitive-behavioral therapies for the treatment of addiction, is presented as an effective remedy to combat tobacco dependence.