How to quit smoking? A blood or saliva analysis based on metabolism will tell

How to quit smoking? A blood or saliva analysis based on metabolism will tell
 August 14, 2019

Study nicotine metabolism for an ad hoc designed anti-smoking strategy

Saying goodbye to cigarettes following the best strategy for your body: a blood or saliva test, in fact, will soon be able to " time " the nicotine metabolism and tell us what we have to do, case by case, to stop smoking.

According to the first Italian study on the correlation between the speed of nicotine metabolism and the degree of smoking addiction, conducted by the University Hospital of Pisa on more than 100 smokers, in fact, individuals with the fastest nicotine metabolism have a lower risk of addiction compared to smokers with slower metabolism, even in similar habitual conditions.

According to WHO data, more than 7 million people die each year from smoking and about 890,000 are non-smokers exposed to passive smoking . Active smoking is also the main cause of mortality that can be prevented in Italy: estimates speak of over 70,000 deaths each year, of which 25% concern individuals between the ages of 35 and 65.

So why not evaluate the increasingly concrete hypothesis of finding a "tailor-made" strategy , identifying it with tests that measure how fast our body metabolizes nicotine?

In doing so, the experts begin to evaluate the data according to which smokers with a slow metabolism of nicotine depend more on smoking, they tend to shorten the time between one cigarette and another and they need more and more cigarettes to satisfy the desire for to smoke. For these subjects a treatment could therefore be indicated that provides constant doses of nicotine, such as for example in a patch, to reduce the desire of the substance and facilitate cessation.


"Unfortunately, quitting smoking is still very difficult: most smokers cannot do it by themselves and also with the help of integrated treatments, from counseling to drugs, so much so that the percentage of individuals still in abstinence at 3, 6 and 12 months from the last cigarette are low, equal to 32%, 21% and 14% respectively - says Stefano Nardini, president of SIP. Overall, the attempt to quit smoking fails in 80% of cases; to date also no indications exist on which drug is to be considered more effective, nor is it clear which smokers can benefit more from one or the other treatment.

The study data, therefore, could indicate ad hoc strategies to help those who want to give up smoking once and for all. Meanwhile, you can consult some natural remedy to stop smoking .