The nicotine market: An attempt to estimate the nicotine intake from various sources and the total nicotine consumption in some countries

Abstract

Tobacco--particularly smoked products--has been associated with great harm and growing public disapproval and can be expected to suffer in the marketplace. This situation has created opportunities for other less harmful nicotine-containing products such as smokeless tobacco and nicotine replacement products, which are gaining public support. Little is known about the level of nicotine intake in our society. Tobacco sales are known, but how much nicotine is extracted and actually absorbed by users is largely unknown. The present study is a first attempt to estimate uptake of nicotine from tobacco and nicotine replacement products and to map nicotine consumption in a few countries, with special emphasis on Sweden. Relevant pharmacokinetic studies for three types of nicotine-containing products (cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and nicotine replacement products) were analyzed for bioavailable nicotine. Estimates of nicotine intake from each category were made. These were then multiplied by the amount consumed in the respective countries. Tobacco consumption statistics were usually from official records of taxed sales. In Sweden about 54% of all nicotine intake comes from smoked sources, 45% from nonsmoked tobacco, and 1.3% from nicotine replacement products. For men, 63% of the nicotine consumed comes from nonsmoked tobacco. Per-capita nicotine intake per year for adults aged 15 years or older is 3,321 mg for Austria, 3,043 mg for Sweden, 3,014 mg for Denmark, 2,955 mg for the United States, 2,244 mg for Norway, and 2,023 mg for Finland. Compared with cigarette smokers, snus users seem to have a somewhat higher daily intake (34 mg vs. 25 mg). The cleanest nicotine products, nicotine replacement products, represent a negligible part (about 1%) of the total nicotine consumption in most countries.

Nicotine replacement therapy, professional therapy, snuff use and tobacco smoking: a study of smoking cessation strategies in southern Sweden

“…The results are also similar to a previous study in Sweden which has shown that approximately 54% of all nicotine comes from smoked sources, 45% from non-smoked tobacco and 1.3% from nicotine replacement products. For men, 63% of the nicotine consumed comes from non-smoked tobacco 32. This finding corresponds rather well with the observation in the present study that the prevalence of daily smoking is 14.9% but the prevalence of daily snus use is 19.5% among men.…”

Dermatology in public health - a model for surveillance of common skin diseases

“…The possible cause of this association is obscure. Our finding that the use of snuff entails a decreased risk of hand eczema proposes the hypothesis that the effect of tobacco smoking is not caused by nicotine because the level of nicotine is higher when using snuff than when smoking [29].…”

Human Blood Concentrations of Cotinine, a Biomonitoring Marker for Tobacco Smoke, Extrapolated from Nicotine Metabolism in Rats and Humans and Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling

“…Five male Japanese smokers provided information on the numbers of cigarettes smoked daily (mean, 31.0) [8]; using a value of 1.4 mg nicotine intake per cigarette [38], the estimated daily nicotine intake was 43.4 mg. This was one of the repetitive pooled samples for biomonitoring of plasma levels of nicotine and cotinine conducted after daily cigarette smoking in a population of 92 male Japanese smokers with a mean age of 37 years who had smoked an average of 23 cigarettes per day for 16 years [8].…”