WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? WHAT DOES IT DO?
IS NICOTINE ALL BAD?
DOES NICOTINE DESERVE ITS REPUTATION?
WHICH IS SAFER, VAPES OR ZYN?
Nicotine, where does it come from?
Nicotine is an alkaloid that occurs naturally in the tobacco plant. The plant was originally found growing wild in tropical and subtropical regions of America and the Caribbean, and it was first cultivated by the Taíno people. The plant’s leaves are the primary source of nicotine (60%) and can be easily dried and ground into a powder to make snuff or made into bales for chewing (tobacco leaves blended with molasses), smoking as cigarettes (the pocket roller was invented in 1882), or pipes. It is important to note that almost every part of the plant contains nicotine, and heavy metals from the soil are also readily absorbed by the plant and stored in the leaves.
*The plant is named after Jean NICOT de Ville main, the French ambassador to Portugal who imported (1560) seeds and leaves to the French court as a “wonder drug”!
What does Nicotine do?
Most plants and animals have some form of defense mechanism to protect them from competitors or predators. The tobacco plant’s defense is its poisonous leaves, which contain deadly amounts of nicotine. Its first commercial use, from the time of the Taíno people until 2014 (when its use for agricultural purposes was banned), was as an insecticide.
We are most familiar with nicotine through its association with smoking as a way of introducing it into the bloodstream. Whatever the method by which Nicotine reaches the bloodstream, it binds to and stimulates the receptors, neurotransmitters (the messenger chemicals) like dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin, which regulate the brain’s response to external events, responses such as pleasure, pain, mood, and emotion.
The primary source of nicotine in the body is inhalation, i.e., smoking. A single pack of cigarettes provides as many as 250 “hits” of a drug (nicotine) that is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. As with other addictive drugs, nicotine releases dopamine, the chemical that triggers pleasure and reward signals in the brain.
No wonder it is so addictive.
Is nicotine all bad? Does nicotine deserve its reputation?
Nicotine was first introduced to the French court in 1560 as a “wonder” drug. Its usage, typically through smoking tobacco in pipes or cigars, or inhaling it as snuff, rapidly spread throughout Europe and later to America. Within a century, Virginia became Western Europe’s primary tobacco supplier. Nicotine’s appeal was its antidepressant power to induce relaxation and relieve stress. It can also enhance sustained attention or concentration on the task at hand.
The pleasure and addictive properties of nicotine far outweighed any perceived risks. At its peak in the early 1950s, 45% of adult Americans smoked tobacco, including a high percentage of doctors. However, scientific research, federal legislation, and social acceptability have led to a significant reduction in the number of smokers, with only 11.5% or 28.3 million adults smoking in 2021. Nonetheless, nearly half a million Americans die prematurely each year from smoking-related diseases, primarily cancer and coronary and pulmonary (COPD) diseases. Over $225 billion is spent annually in the USA on medical care to treat smoking-related illnesses.
For these reasons, nicotine is considered a highly harmful and addictive recreational drug, and smoking tobacco remains the most preventable cause of death in the United States. However, nicotine is not entirely bad.
In controlled doses and under medical supervision, it has the power to: –
- Act as an anti-depressant
- Reduce the symptoms of conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia
- Delay the progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
- Provide short-term pain stress and strain relief
When used therapeutically, nicotine is refined, i.e., free from the contaminants present in burning tobacco. Estimates of the number of impurities in tobacco smoke vary. The American Cancer Society states that among the thousands of chemicals that make up tobacco smoke, at least 70 are known to cause cancer. Nicotine, the addictive substance, takes the blame, but it is mainly the carcinogens in the burning smoke when inhaled that do the damage.
Ironically, the primary medical use of nicotine is to help smokers to QUIT THE HABIT.
The surest way to quit smoking tobacco is to find an alternative way of satisfying and eventually losing the craving for tobacco. Very few people succeed in giving up smoking tobacco without some form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
There are many approaches to this difficult problem. Most of them require smokers to restrict their intake of nicotine over a period of time without becoming habituated to the ‘new’ method of delivery. Among these alternatives are: –
- Gum
- Patches
- Lozenges
- Inhalers
- Nasal sprays
- Vapes
- E-cigarettes/Juuls
- Zyn (oral pouches)
This is not a 101 on how to give up smoking (habit) and nicotine(addiction).
Smoking, E-cigarettes, vapes, nasal sprays, and inhalers all involve nicotine reaching the bloodstream via the lungs either as ‘smoke’ or vapor.
Patches deliver nicotine through the skin (transdermal) at a slow, continuous rate over which the user has limited control.
Lozenges and nicotine pouches (Zyn) deliver nicotine orally and thus avoid the added risk of lung disease.
Talk to your doctor about screening and cessation intervention (how to stop smoking). It’s free!
Whichever approach you take, there is still enough time to be in a position to tell your health insurer to “Find a new plan. I don’t smoke.”
