Most Effective Nicotine Replacement Therapy: E-cigarettes vs. NRT

According to a recent study published in January 2019  [ https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.10... ] in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers discovered that e-cigarettes can be almost twice as effective as NRT. So, this means that e-cigarettes are helping smokers remain away from cigarettes.

The researchers concluded that almost 20% of all participants in the study who got a behavioral course and were vaping managed to be smoke-free for an entire year. On the other hand, only 10% of all the participants who were given medical nicotine on the form of gum and patches were able to remain smoke-free.

The truth is that this wasn't the first study that was conducted with the goal of determining if whether e-cigarettes could be an effective way to quit smoking. However, one of the most significant studies conducted based all its conclusions on the use of just on e-cigarette. While this could be ok, the problem was that this particular e-cigarette was poor at delivering nicotine. Nevertheless, these studies were still able to prove that e-cigarettes are a powerful way to help smokers when compared to gums and patches.

The reality is that the results were modest. So, this led many medical professionals to remain skeptical about e-cigarettes and vaping in general.

One of the effects of this study should point to challenge policymakers to take a closer look at vaping and e-cigarettes in general. So, we are hoping to see some restrictions that are now present in the European Union to be relaxed. The main difference in the study that was published in January this year is that participants had the option to choose what they would prefer to use to quit smoking cigarettes. According to the opinion of the participants to picked e-cigarettes, they stated that they preferred the e-cigarette to NRT products but that they were still less satisfying than cigarettes. However, this may have been due to the fact that they weren't getting enough nicotine for them. After all, tank sizes and small cartridges can definitely be a turn-off for smokers.

According to Peter Hajek, one of the authors of the study we mentioned, believes that now medical practitioners should be more willing to recommend vaping products to their smoking patients instead of NRT therapies.

One of the things that have also stopped medical practitioners to recommend vaping products is due to the fact that e-cigarettes have always been branded as a consumer product and not as a medical intervention. The truth is that most people who try out vaping sees it as a pleasure. In fact, vaping products are designed exactly with this goal in mind. Another co-author of the study, Hayden McRobbie states that “an issue that is rarely discussed is that some smokers actually enjoy smoking, and vaping may help them retain this”.