Study: Quitting smokers gain less weight using nicotine lozenges
If you want to gain fewer pounds after you quit smoking, use a nicotine lozenge instead of nicotine gum, according to findings published Tuesday in the Wisconsin Medical Journal.
In the first head-to-head comparison of gum and lozenge smoking cessation aids, people using a lozenge gained 5.4 fewer pounds on average than those using gum, after eight weeks of treatment.
The quit-smoking rate was slightly better for lozenge users than gum users, with a 15.1 percent quit rate for lozenge users at the eight-week treatment mark compared to an 11.3 percent rate for the gum users.
The study was conducted on 408 participants at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee between June 2004 and July 2005.
The participants were tracked at eight weeks, six months and one year.
At eight weeks, the successful quitters in the lozenge group gained between 3.0 and 6.3 pounds while the successful quitters in the gum group gained between 8.4 and 9.2 pounds.
Seven out of 10 smokers want to quit but weight gain is a common concern, and rightfully so, the study said.
Researchers noted most former smokers gained 10-14 pounds in the first year after quitting.
"Those in the lozenge group gained less," the study said. "This effect also could reflect the more efficient nicotine delivery of the lozenge, compared to nicotine gum."
The full study is available online at www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org.
