Cytisine is a molecule that blocks nicotine receptors in the brain. Used as an anti-smoking treatment in Bulgaria and Poland, it would double the chances of quitting smoking after 6 months of treatment, according to the results of a new scientific study from New Zealand.
Researchers conducted a study in New Zealand with 1,310 smokers motivated to forget the cigarette. One group received cytisine and the other a nicotine replacement. The volunteers were accompanied by addictologists.
After a month, the researchers found that 4 in 10 people using cytisine reported that they had quit smoking. Of those who received nicotine replacement therapy, 3 in 10 had successfully avoided smoking.
Scientists also found that the effectiveness of cystine was superior to nicotine substitutes after 6 months of treatment, especially in women.
In contrast, side effects were more common in the group that consumed cystine and were mainly nausea, vomiting and trouble sleeping. But, despite these undesirable effects, 80% of the volunteers approved this molecule and would recommend it to their relatives.
“This molecule is effective and it is not expensive. But there is a lack of knowledge about this drug. It is prescribed in the form of a medicine, tabex, in Bulgaria and Poland. But its use in this indication is not authorized neither by the European Union nor in the United States ”recalls Natalie Walker, epidemiologist and researcher at the National Institute for Health Innovation of New Zealand.
Tobacco: more and more smokers
In France, the consumption of tobacco, which had declined from the 1970s, has increased since 2005, especially among women and in disadvantaged socio-economic classes, reaching nearly 34% of adults according to the National Institute for Health Watch.
Cigarettes kill 200 times a day in France and lose between 10 and 15 years of life for each smoker without health problems.
Read also:
Infographic: 10 years of tobacco control
Tobacco: 7 good reasons to quit smoking
Smoking increases the risk of suffering from two successive cancers
