Nicotine Spray Beats Gum, Lozenges

Spritzing your mouth with a nicotine spray could dull craving far quicker than popping a nicotine lozenge or chewing gum, Reuters reported June 10.

U.K. researchers said the experience of using a nicotine spray was much closer to that of puffing a cigarette, which delivers a dose of nicotine to the brain in about 20 seconds. The study found that the oral spray relieved craving within five minutes, whereas lozenges took 10 minutes and nicotine gum took 15 minutes.

The study compared the Swedish nicotine spray made by Zonnic to a lozenge made by the same company, Nicorette gum, and a placebo.

Researcher Hayden McRobbie of the London School of Medicine and Dentistry said that former smokers might benefit from a combination of a nicotine patch to quell “background” cravings and a fast-acting drug like the mouth spray to cope with spikes in craving.

The findings were published in the journal Addiction.