Nicotine pouches are rising in popularity as an alternative for tobacco users to help quit smoking.
But the new product is drawing in younger people with no smoking history, complicating the benefits and costs of its use.
Pouches are small microfiber containers that people place between their gums and cheeks to absorb the addictive chemical nicotine. The pouches are almost entirely nicotine, so users aren’t absorbing the other harmful chemicals found in products like cigarettes or chew.
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Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria directs the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She’s also a professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
On WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” Kathuria said research into the long-term effects of nicotine pouches is ongoing, but researchers believe using them can help smokers reduce harm.
“I think it’s really important to consider the population that you’re talking about,” she said. “Somebody (who) is smoking, switching to nicotine pouches — it’s likely a harm reduction strategy.”
But pouches are a risk for people who have never used tobacco products, she added.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to allow nicotine pouch brand Zyn to market its products as a lower-risk nicotine option compared to tobacco products like cigarettes.
Cigarette smoking has been steadily declining in popularity for decades, according to the American Lung Association. In 1965, 42 percent of American adults were smokers. In 2022, that number had dropped to roughly 11 percent.
But Kathuria noted there’s an alarming increase in pouch use among high school students. She said American 10-12th graders have increased their use of nicotine pouches from 3 percent to 5 percent. She added that nicotine pouches are by far the fastest-growing nicotine product on the market, having increased in sales by over 200 percent since 2023.
The center is currently recruiting people for a study that will look into how well nicotine pouches can work as a replacement for smoking. Kathuria said the benefits of using nicotine pouches over cigarettes drops significantly if people are smoking add using the pouches.
Kathuria said some studies are showing that people who use both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes have a fourfold higher risk of developing lung cancer.
“If it’s an off-ramp for someone who’s smoking, it has to be a complete off-ramp,” Kathuria said.
