Study smokers with reduced addiction in smoking cigarette placebos

Placebo cigarettes reduce the craving for nicotine
Many people in the world smoke cigarettes. Even if doctors repeatedly advise against it, some smokers just can not stop their vice. One reason for this is the dependence on nicotine. Researchers have now discovered that giving smokers cigarettes without nicotine is enough. If sufferers believe they smoke nicotine, the withdrawal symptoms will decrease.

Dallas University researchers found that smokers just have to believe in smoking nicotine to reduce their withdrawal symptoms. The experts published the results of their study in the journal "Frontiers in Psychiatry".

Do you want to stop smoking for a long time? But the craving for nicotine keeps you from doing that? Then maybe you could be helped in the future. Physicians found that placebos are effective in suppressing addiction from smokers. The important thing is that smokers are convinced they smoke nicotine. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Faith influences the desire
The effect that nicotine has on our brains seems to be influenced by belief in the nicotine content of cigarettes or tobacco, the experts suggest. If smokers just believe they consume nicotine, their cravings for tobacco are reduced. These results are particularly interesting for women. Researchers have already found that smoking in women dramatically increases the risk of brain hemorrhage.

Placebo cigarettes are effective when smokers believe in nicotine
In a series of experiments, researchers found that smoking cigarettes without nicotine was enough. To satisfy smokers' nicotine addiction, those affected do not necessarily smoke a cigarette with nicotine. It is sufficient to smoke a cigarette without nicotine, as long as the smoker simply believes in nicotine, the doctors explain. This could save the lives of many smokers or at least protect them from serious illnesses. For example, other studies have recently shown, for example, that smoking increases the risk of recurrence of Crohn's disease following intestinal surgery.

Subjects receive cigarettes with and without nicotine
All subjects were given a nicotine-containing cigarette twice during the study. In addition, they were given a cigarette twice without nicotine (placebo) twice. Each time the cigarette was told the truth about the nicotine content and once the exact opposite was said, add the scientists.

Typical experimental setup examines efficacy of placebos
For example, the experiment could proceed like this. On the first visit of the subject, he got a cigarette without nicotine (placebo). The participant thought, however, that smoking a cigarette with nicotine, explain the experts. The cigarette could also contain nicotine, but the smoker thought she was a placebo. There was also the case that the smoked cigarette contains nicotine and the smoker thought it contained nicotine. As a last resort, participants believed they could smoke a placebo cigarette and the cigarette really did not contain nicotine, the authors add.

If smokers do not believe in nicotine in cigarettes, they will not reduce their cravings either
Every year on World No Tobacco Day, there are hints and guidelines on how to finally stop smoking. The new study could now help more people to quit smoking. The result of the investigation was also interesting from other points of view. For smokers who smoked a cigarette with nicotine, but did not believe that the cigarette contains nicotine, their craving for nicotine was not satisfied, explain the researchers. So it's just enough to believe in contained nicotine to reduce the addiction afterwards.

Belief in a drug affects its effectiveness
The results indicate that needed medicines for smoking cessation need to be credible. For a drug to have an effect on those affected, they must also believe in the effectiveness and presence of the drug, study author Xiaosi Gu from the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas explains. The statements of the experts support earlier investigations. These had already proven that belief affects the effectiveness of a drug on addictive behavior. (As)