# Nicotine for weight loss?



## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Anybody experiment with long-term use of nicotine for weight (fat) loss or for maintaining low body fat? I'm interested because of studies suggesting that it might be quite effective:

*Effect of chewing gum containing nicotine and caffeine on energy **expenditure and substrate utilization in men*
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/6/1442.full.pdf​
*Cigarette Smoking, Nicotine, and Body Weight*
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195407/


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

Effective, but the potential for addiction (read: guaranteed) is too high.  It also promotes cardiovascular disease.

Stick to your coffee.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

It increases grehlin and it a potential endorphin enhancer going longer without food. But the draw backs are loss in strength and endurance as well increase potential for injuries. So it kinda conflicting I did manage to lose 4lb quicker then my average weight loss. When coming off smoking you binge eat for a couple days. So you just might gain it all back when you come off.


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## arao6 (Jul 12, 2013)

Sacrieur said:


> Effective, but the potential for addiction (read: guaranteed) is too high. It also promotes cardiovascular disease.
> 
> Stick to your coffee.


This.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Sacrieur said:


> Effective, but the potential for addiction (read: guaranteed) is too high. It also promotes cardiovascular disease.
> 
> Stick to your coffee.


The addiction part makes sense although I have read that the onset of action for nicotine replacement is slow compared to nicotine in cigarettes that the risk is low. With respect to cardiovascular disease, do you have any papers suggesting this because most medical/pharmacy associations advise that there is little risk. For instance:

*Myths and facts of using nicotine replacement therapies and other medications to stop smoking*
http://knowledgex.camh.net/primary_care/toolkits/addiction_toolkit/smoking/Documents/Toolkit-Myths_Facts_NRT.pdf​



> Three randomized controlled trials have examined the efficacy and safety of NRT in patients with cardiovascular disease (Working Group, 1994; Tzivoni et al., 1998; Joseph et al., 1996). Although each study examined different endpoints, none showed significant differences in the rates of death, myocardial infarction, frequency of angina, arrhythmia, or withdrawal from therapy due to adverse events, comparing NRT to placebo. In one trial, smoking concurrently while using transdermal nicotine was not associated with an increase in adverse events (Joseph et al., 1996). Two of the trials showed a statistically significant increase in cessation rates with active treatment (Working Group, 1994; and Tzivoni et al., 1998; however one failed to demonstrate the efficacy of transdermal nicotine to accomplish long-term abstinence from smoking (Joseph et al., 1996).
> 
> A meta-analysis of adverse events, recorded in the course of 35 trials to evaluate the efficacy of nicotine patches, also failed to document a difference in the rate of acute myocardial infarction between active (n=5501) and placebo (n=3752) treatment groups (Greenland et al., 1996. A more recent meta-analysis (Mills et al., 2010) included 120 studies (92 randomised clinical trials and 28 observational studies) for a total of 177,390 individuals, and found no increased risk for myocardial infarction or death from NRT (for a review on adverse effects and tolerability see also Hays& Ebbert, 2010). The majority of these studies, however, specifically excluded patients with cardiac disease at baseline. A secondary analysis of subjects in the Lung Health Study, a randomized, controlled trial for the prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, demonstrated that cardiovascular deaths were associated with continuing smoking, but not among those who used nicotine gum for five years. The use or dose of nicotine gum, or concurrent smoking and gum use, was not associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity or mortality (Murray et al., 1996). A case control study of acute myocardial infarction, stroke and death in the UK found no evidence of increased risk in the 56 days after starting NRT for smoking cessation (Hubbard et al., 2005).


http://www.treatobacco.net/en/page_75.php


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

All I can say is that if you have a cigarette in your mouth, you're less inclined to put food in it. 

When I used to smoke, I smoked so much I hardly ate anything so I was skinny.


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## Zack (Apr 20, 2013)

I suck NRT lozenges occasionally and I think it reduces appetite.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

I stand corrected.

But it is expensive.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Sacrieur said:


> I stand corrected.
> 
> But it is expensive.


That's true about the cost. And thanks for the link. I always wondered why nicotine wasn't marketed as a weight loss supplement/medication because it seems there is arguably more safety data than other weight loss products and the effect on weight loss (regardless of exact mechanism) is pretty robust. Moreover, there are studies suggesting potential anti-depressant effects.


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## Zack (Apr 20, 2013)

Kon said:


> That's true about the cost. And thanks for the link. I always wondered why nicotine wasn't marketed as a weight loss supplement/medication because it seems there is arguably more safety data than other weight loss products and the effect on weight loss (regardless of exact mechanism) is pretty robust. Moreover, *there are studies suggesting potential anti-depressant effects*.


Can you link a paper?


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Steve-300 said:


> Can you link a paper?


*Antidepressant effect of transdermal nicotine patches in nonsmoking patients with major depression*
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9746444

Note the authors recognize the anti-depressant effect but do not recommend it because of risk to health. But that risk as shown above in more recent studies suggest it is probably minimal.


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## Zack (Apr 20, 2013)

Thanks.

"Because of *nicotine's high risk to health*, nicotine patches are not recommended"


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

Well, it is addictive, so that reason alone is good enough for me to avoid it, there are better treatments.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Steve-300 said:


> Thanks.
> 
> "Because of *nicotine's high risk to health*, nicotine patches are not recommended"


There is little evidence for this. Those were older views. Look at the first links above and the following guidelines from the Ontario Medical Association. I'm sure similar health professional guidelines exist in other countries:



> Nicotine has not been shown to cause cancer.It is not implicated in the development of chronic respiratory disorders due to smoking. Heart disease caused by smoking is largely due to tobacco combustion products, not nicotine....


With respect to the addictive potential, it is far less than cigarettes:



> Cigarettes are far more addictive than nicotine replacement products primarily because of the way in which they delivernicotine.


*Rethinking Stop-SmokingMedications: **Treatment **Myths and Medical Realities*
https://www.oma.org/resources/documents/e2008rethinkingstop-smokingmedications.pdf




> Studies show that cardiac patients who used the patch and/or the gum were not found to have greater rates of death...





> Nicotine is highly addictive when obtained through smoking because it reaches the brain in 7 to 10 seconds. The patch and gum release nicotine slowly into your body, so there is almost no addictive potential.​


*Myths and facts of using nicotine replacement therapies and other medications to stop smoking*

*http://knowledgex.camh.net/primary_care/toolkits/addiction_toolkit/smoking/Documents/Toolkit-Myths_Facts_NRT.pdf*​


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## Broshious2 (Jan 21, 2009)

That's without even mentioning the reversible Mao inhibitors contained in tobacco which, at least from rat studies, greatly enhance the addictiveness of nicotine.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Yeah I can testify to that vaping wasn't as good as smoking.


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## Grog (Sep 13, 2013)

Try a tape worm instead cheaper than smoking and you can still eat what you want 



P.s. 
( don't listen to me )


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Jsoc said:


> It didn't work at all and made me ill.


Which, the tapeworm or the nicotine?


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

I've been trying to smoke to lose weight, I'm terrible at it! :/ It's embarrassing, but I'll try pretty much anything.


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## alieneyed (Jul 3, 2013)

Or you could just buy a ****ing gym membership rather than loading your body up with unnecessary drugs. Probably cheaper anyway.


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## Brad (Dec 27, 2011)

Just stick to a healthy diet and exercise lol.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

alieneyed said:


> Or you could just buy a ****ing gym membership rather than loading your body up with unnecessary drugs. Probably cheaper anyway.


There's a much easier way and far more effective/efficient: eating less but it's hard to do for a lot of people because of easy access to tasty, processed and addictive fast-food:


> Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-GI meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.


*Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men*
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/3/641


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I like cigars the best. Because you don't inhale you. Hold it in your mouth or throat. It's easier to limit yourself to 2 cigars a day there less addictive cause your not using your lungs. They might be worser for your mouth or throat. Their also probably better for your cardiovascular cause your not inhaling or smoking as much.

They pack a bigger punch and their tastier then cigs. Plus they look cooler.

Using the gum the nicotine would get into your stomach and it would cause nausea and heart burn.

There no quick way for weightloss. Cutting out glutin and dairy would reduce cals by 800-1000. Every fast food joint has glutin and dairy pretty much in every item unless you go to place like edo japan.


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## Captainmycaptain (Sep 23, 2012)

There was a study done a few years back that debunked the idea that nicotine helps with weight loss. Let me see if I can find it....Ok, I found it. According to this, smoking will more than likely make you gain weight. http://www.thestopsmokinglounge.com...-debunks-myth-that-smoking-helps-weight-loss/

I do enjoy smoking, but have been smoking e-cigs for the past year. If you want to lose weight, go for wellbutrin or amphetamine.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

DRUGSAREnotGOOD said:


> There was a study done a few years back that debunked the idea that nicotine helps with weight loss. Let me see if I can find it....Ok, I found it. According to this, smoking will more than likely make you gain weight. http://www.thestopsmokinglounge.com...-debunks-myth-that-smoking-helps-weight-loss/
> 
> I do enjoy smoking, but have been smoking e-cigs for the past year. If you want to lose weight, go for wellbutrin or amphetamine.


Who said anything about smoking? Smoking is the dumbest thing one can possibly do. The link you posted is not a study. There is an overwhelming body of evidence that nicotine in whatever form (including tobacco)helps lower body weight. I also see it in practise everyday. People complain that when they stop smoking their bodyweight almost always goes up. Some go back to smoking because of this. I tell them if they aren't willing to exercise (some may have osteoarthritis, physical limitations or just laziness) or lower their calories, then perhaps staying on a nicotine replacent product as long as necessary is another option.

Edit: Sorry, I realized you meant e-cigs.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I found a good way to quit smoking since my E-ciggerette broke, I had 4 tubes of E juice left that I spent 40 dollars on so everytime I get a craving or whatever I just put a drop on my finger and put that in my mouth it completely curves the craving.

It seems that is way better then any kind of nicotine replacement I've used yet.


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## Kiruna (Nov 17, 2013)

It is effective. The effect also increases exponentially when combined with caffeine.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Kiruna said:


> It is effective. The effect also increases exponentially when combined with caffeine.


You might find this interesting:



> The thermogenic responses (increases over the response to placebo) were 3.7%, 4.9%, 7.9%, 6.3%, 8.5%, and 9.8%, respectively, for the gums containing 1/0, 2/0, 1/50, 2/50, 1/100, and 2/100 mg nicotine/mg caffeine (_P _< 0.05 for all).* Adding caffeine to 1 and 2 mg nicotine significantly enhanced the thermogenic response, but changing the caffeine dose (from 50 to 100 mg) did not change the thermogenic effect.* None of the combinations changed the respiratory quotient compared with placebo, which indicates that glucose and fat oxidation rates were increased to a similar extent. Side effects occurred only with 2 mg nicotine.



*Effect of chewing gum containing nicotine and caffeine on energy expenditure and substrate utilization in men*
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/6/1442.full.pdf​


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

So, I've tried the patch, gum, Nicorette minilozenge, Nicorrette inhaler and Nicorette QuickMist spray. I can't believe how wasted I got on the spray. That stuff felt like alcohol except faster but didn't last as long. I found the patch and lozenge gave the least side-effects.


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## dcaffeine (Oct 26, 2013)

I am going to try it. I think everyone should. Just make sure to use e cigarettes or nicotine gum. And don't get addicted.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Kon said:


> So, I've tried the patch, gum, Nicorette minilozenge, Nicorrette inhaler and Nicorette QuickMist spray. I can't believe how wasted I got on the spray. That stuff felt like alcohol except faster but didn't last as long. I found the patch and lozenge gave the least side-effects.


So do you like it? Have you've gotta any results so far?

I'm gonna try to switch to the gum then phase out smoking. I think I will get the slowest absorption with the gum for now untill I try something else.


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## H i (Nov 23, 2013)

Although it's been said countless times - > eating better would be by far the best method. As would promoting some kind of fitness. Although most people with SAD are less likely to do either because lack of motivation but if you can motivate yourself go that route; however, if you don't care about either of those and you are hell bent on nicotine then you do you!


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

GotAnxiety said:


> So do you like it? Have you've gotta any results so far?
> 
> I'm gonna try to switch to the gum then phase out smoking. I think I will get the slowest absorption with the gum for now untill I try something else.


I never smoked so I found the quick spray too quick and it made me feel dizzy and loopy and a bit nauseous. I'm not sure how a previous smoker would find it. The gum was horribly tasting. The mini lozenge is perfect for me. I've lost 5 lbs. so far but I've also eaten less. I think the NRT does decrease your appetite.


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