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Tobacco Smell, Taste Could Help Prevent Withdrawal
Exposing people trying to quit smoking to the smell and taste of cigarettes could help ease the symptoms of withdrawal, according to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.
HealthDay News reported April 6 that researchers asked members of a study group containing 19 male and 13 female longtime smokers to either abstain from smoking, smoke nicotine-free cigarettes, or smoke cigarettes containing nicotine. Those who did not smoke reported classic withdrawal signs, but these eased somewhat when the subjects were allowed to smoke the nicotine-free cigarettes.
The researchers concluded that nicotine is not the sole cause of withdrawal among smokers, and that smoking-related stimuli, applied in addition to nicotine-replacement therapy, could help smokers quit.
"Understanding which withdrawal symptoms are suppressed by nicotine and which are suppressed by other factors is critical in order to improve treatment options," said researcher Thomas Eissenberg of Virginia Commonwealth University's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies. "When smokers quit, they need nicotine replacements to suppress some withdrawal symptoms, but will likely require additional therapies -- either behavioral or pharmacological -- to help cope with urges to smoke, hunger and other withdrawal symptoms."
The study was reported in the April 2005 issue of the journal Addiction.
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