Smokers who wish to quit or cut down should give e-cigarettes a try, researchers say

Sep 9, 2013 19:36 GMT  ·  By

Smokers who are thinking about either kicking the habit or at least cutting down might find that e-cigarettes are fairly effective in helping them achieve their goal, researchers say.

A recent investigation carried out by scientists at the University of Auckland has shown that e-cigarettes and nicotine patches are similarly effective when it comes to helping smokers quit or cut down on the number of times they light up throughout the day.

In order to test how smokers respond to either e-cigarettes or nicotine patches, the researchers asked for the help of 657 volunteers.

These people were all smokers, and they all expressed a desire to quit, sources tell us.

As part of the investigation, the volunteers were split into three groups. About 300 of them were offered e-cigarettes, and a similar number were given nicotine patches.

Some 70 volunteers were given e-cigarettes that contained absolutely no nicotine. As the researchers explain, these individuals formed the so-called placebo group.

Six months later, the scientists interviewed the volunteers and determined how many of them had managed to quit smoking.

It was thus discovered that the quitting rates among the people using the e-cigarettes and the ones among the individuals using the nicotine patches were roughly the same, i.e. 6-7%.

By comparison, just 4% of the people in the placebo group had managed to kick the habit.

Besides, of the people offered the e-cigarettes, some 60% had succeeded in cutting down. The nicotine patches, on the other hand, only helped 41% of the volunteers who had been using them cut down.

“This research provides an important benchmark for e-cigarettes. We have now shown they are about as effective as a standard nicotine replacement product,” researcher Chris Bullen commented on the outcome of this investigation.

The scientist also believes that, all things considered, e-cigarettes have the potential to one day replace regular smokes.

“‘E-cigarettes also have the potential to replace cigarettes as a consumer product, so their value is not just as a treatment. That could stop the tobacco-related disease and death epidemic if everyone switches to a safer way of nicotine delivery,” he argued.