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Are oral nicotine pouches safer than traditional tobacco products?

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An emerging form of nicotine, namely oral nicotine pouches, has become increasingly popular in recent years.
These skinny, retangular nicotine pouches look like small tea bags, and are usually marketed as less harmful alternatives to traditional tobacco products like cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.
So, are nicotine pouches truly safer than traditional tobacco products?
In this blog, we will take a look at the main features of oral nicotine pouches, and compares them with traditional tobacco products on health effects.
 

Something you need to know about nicotine pouches

Typically,nicotine pouches are made up of powdered nicotine, flavoring, sweetener and plant-based fibers, but no tobacco leaf. So, nicotine pouches are also regarded as “tobacco-free” nicotine products.
The nicotine can either be synthesized in a laboratory or deprived from tobacco and come in varying contents across brands ,usually comparable with oral smokeless tobacco products like snus. In other words, these products can be as addictive as traditional tobacco products.
As for the taste, nicotine pouches are more tempting than traditional tobacco products, owing to their richness of flavors. For example, our ZYLO nicotine pouches come with a wide range of flavors, including spearmint, mint ice, wintergreen, berry ice, etc.
When in use, a nicotine pouch is tucked into the mouth between the cheek and gum for about 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the brand ,and is tossed into a trash bin after it is finished. The nicotine is absorbed through the mouth’s membrane lining into the bloodstream.
There is no need for inhalation of smoke, nor the spitting out of tobacco. This makes nicotine pouches more convenient and discreet to use than traditional tobacco products, which are part of reasons why people turn to them.
Another reason why people switch to nicotine pouches is that they believe these products are safer than traditional tobacco products.
Then, are nicotine pouches better alternatives to traditional products? Let’s compare them with cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, two commonly known traditional tobacco products on their health effects.
 

Are nicotine pouches safer than cigarettes?

Cigarettes are the most common form of tobacco use, and smoking is known to cause serious diseases, including lung cancer, COPD, heart diseases, stroke, etc. Smoking is also the leading cause of preventable deaths. Studies show that smoking kills half of its users.
While being the major active compound in cigarettes, nicotine is usually not regarded as the fetal risk factor of smoking. For example, many cancer research institutions, like Cancer Research UK, European Code Against Cancer and World Cancer Research Fund all state that nicotine doesn’t cause cancer.
So, what is the source of smoking harm? The truth turns out that the health risks mainly come from tobacco and cigarette combustion.
Firstly, tobacco is proven to contain a variety of toxic chemicals, among which at least 28 chemicals are established to be carcinogenic, including lead, cadmium, polonium and tobacco-specific nitrosamines(TSNAs). TSNAs , for example, are believed to be a significant risk factor for cancers.Tobacco toxins will be released when cigarettes are burnt and inhaled by smokers and people around them.
Apart from toxins from tobacco, the cigarette also generates a variety of other harmful chemicals during the burning, including carbon monoxide, tar and ash. It is reported that cigarette burning produces more than 7000 chemicals and more than 250 compounds are known to be harmful and around 70 are established to be carcinogenic.
Some hazardous substances in cigarette smoke include acrolein, arsenic, acetaldehyde, benzene, and formaldehyde, which contribute to smoking-related diseases.
Nicotine pouches, on the contrary, do not contain tobacco and don’t involve in the burning, as a result, they are free of the toxins and carcinogens associated with tobacco and its burning.
Given these factors, it can be said nicotine pouches are less harmful than cigarettes.

Are nicotine pouches safer than traditional smokeless tobacco products?

Nicotine pouches are used in the same way as traditional smokeless tobacco products such as snus and chewing tobacco, which involves absorbing nicotine through the tissue in the mouth. The key difference between them is the former do not contain tobacco, while the latter are tobacco-based.
While you don’t inhale tobacco smoke when using smokeless tobacco products, these products are bad for you. Smokeless tobacco products are known to contain over 4000 chemicals, among which around 30 chemicals are linked with cancer development. It is reported that smokeless tobacco products can cause tooth loss, gum disease,esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer and oral cancer.
According to the FDA, more than 2300 people are diagnosed with esophageal, pancreatic and oral cancers due to smokeless tobacco use every year in the U.S.
Nicotine pouches , nevertheless, don’t contain tobacco toxins and other additives linked with smokeless tobacco products , so they can avoid these health risks. As a result, it can be fair to say that nicotine pouches are a healthier alternative to smokeless tobacco products.
Now we can see that nicotine pouches provide a new way of nicotine use without exposing users to harmful chemicals associated with tobacco and cigarette smoke. Hence, nicotine pouches are potentially a better alternative to traditional tobacco products.
While nicotine pouches seem less harmful than traditional tobacco products, there are still other concerns, such as nicotine’s negative effects on the body and other unknown potential health impacts of these newer nicotine products.
 

What effects do nicotine pouches have on the human body?

Apparently, nicotine pouches are not entirely risk-free, as nicotine itself comes with various bad effects on human health.
As is well known, nicotine is a highly addictive stimulant. Nicotine pouches, like any other kind of tobacco products, can get people addicted. It means quitting nicotine pouches can be as challenging as quitting smoking once you pick up the habit. You may want to know how hard smoking quitting could be.According to the NIDA,half of smokers try to quit every year, but only 6% succeed.
The other thing is that, for non-smokers, exposure to nicotine pouches may increase the risk of them using other tobacco products like cigarettes and whatnot.
Also,nicointe is known to damage a developing brain. Studies show that nicotine exposure during adolescence may negatively affect the attention, memory, learning and predisposition to addiction. In other words, nicotine pouches are especially not meant for youth.
Besides, nicotine is a risk factor for a pregnant woman and her developing fetus. Nicotine exposure during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth, and can damage a baby’s developing brain and lungs.
Furthermore, when nicotine enters the body, it will move to the gland, triggering the release of adrenaline-a stress chemical, also known as “flight or fight” chemical.This leads to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. It means nicotine pouches can be dangerous to individuals who have pre-existing heart problems.
Other side effects of nicotine pouches that have been reported include nausea, mouth sore, hiccups and gum irritation. Also, long-term exposure to these pouches may cause problems like gum sensibility or recession.
Despite all these negative effects, nicotine pouches, however, carry less health risks compared with traditional tobacco products, due to the absence of tobacco and smoke.

In conclusion

By eliminating tobacco and cigarette smoke, nicotine pouches provide a harm-reduced way to use nicotine for those who are considering a switch from detrimental traditional tobacco products.
While nicotine pouches do not impact the human body in the same way as conventional tobacco products, it is worth noting that nicotine pouches are not completely risk-free, since nicotine on its own can be bad to the human body.
One more consideration is, as nicotine pouches are relatively new, their potential health consequences remain unclear, especially on oral health, due to limited research.
All in all, for tobacco users, moving to nicotine pouches means a further step towards a smoke-free and tobacco-free future, and for people who have never used nicotine,the best option is always to stay away from any form of tobacco or nicotine products.
 
Posted in Health & Safety.
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