Good news for those who are trying to quit smoking. A new study released in The Lancet, a medical journal, states that e-cigarettes can prove to be just as effective as nicotine patches in assisting individuals to keep smoking at bay.
The report is in cohesion with researchers at the University of Auckland, who say e-cigarettes may be a more useful tool as smokers prefer them over patches.
“While our results don’t show any clear-cut differences between e-cigarettes and patches in terms of quit success after six months, it certainly seems that e-cigarettes were more effective in helping smokers who didn’t quit to cut down,” said Chris Bullen, head researcher.
The results are based on data of some hundred smokers trying to quit. These individuals were divided into groups of three – one group used e-cigarettes with some amount of nicotine, second group used nicotine patches, and the third group used placebo e-cigarettes that did not contain nicotine.
“It’s also interesting that the people who took part in our study seemed to be much more enthusiastic about e-cigarettes than patches, as evidenced by the far greater proportion of people in both of the e-cigarette groups who said they’d recommend them to family or friends, compared to patches,” added Bullen.
Research concluded that e-cigarettes were “modestly effectively” in assisting individuals quit smoking whether it contained nicotine or not.
Written by, Garima Goswami Assistant Editor at DARPAN Magazine
Image Courtesy of Time Health and Family