This has been confirmed in a study by researchers at the University of Vermont, in the United States.
Researchers from the University of Vermont ( United States ) say that reducing the nicotine content of tobacco can serve to diminish its addictive potential , especially in more vulnerable populations.
This is confirmed after a study whose results published the magazine 'JAMA Psychiatry' in which they focused on the addiction potential of cigarettes with reduced nicotine content in three vulnerable populations: individuals with affected disorders, with problems due to the use of opioids or women with socioeconomic difficulties.
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"The evidence in relatively healthy and socially stable smokers indicates that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes reduces their addiction, " said Stephen Higgins, who did not know if this same effect would also be seen in people more vulnerable to smoking.
In their multicentre and double blind study, they included 169 habitual smokers, 120 women and 49 men . Of these, 56 had a diagnosed affective disorder, 60 had opioid dependence and 53 were women with socioeconomic problems.
Each participant underwent different tests in several sessions of 2 to 4 hours , each one preceded by a period of between 6 and 8 hours without smoking. The first phase of the study consisted of 5 sessions, and the participants began smoking a brand-name cigarette that they consumed to later change to a cigarette of identical appearance, but with varying doses of nicotine.
The participants had to use a plastic nozzle while they smoked to later measure the number of puffs , the length and speed of them. Also, through questionnaires analyzed the desire to smoke and nicotine dependence.
In the following five sessions, participants were offered the opportunity to select cigarettes that wanted to smoke between 6 different nicotine dose options , and a computer program was used to record each election, if later on they wanted to continue with it or change of cigarettes, and if the desire to continue smoking was greater or lesser after two puffs. And in the last sessions, they followed the same patterns, but only with the cigars with higher or lower doses.
Although participants tended to prefer cigarettes with higher doses of nicotine , the researchers found that low-nicotine cigarettes could serve as substitutes if their cost were lower.
"This study provides a very encouraging indication that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes would help vulnerable populations ... We need more research, but this is very encouraging news with tremendous potential to improve public health," according to Higgins.