The power of cigarettes not just down to nicotine

Sep 4 2008

According to new research from the U.S., it may not just be nicotine which gives cigarettes their power but rather how it enhances other experiences.

The researchers say there may be a very good reason why coffee and cigarettes or cigarettes and a glass of wine often seem to go hand in hand - the tastes may complement each other.

The researchers from Kansas State University suggest this may the reason why smoking is so hard to quit.

According to psychology professor Matthew Palmatier, people do very regimented things when they smoke, and when and where and who people smoke with, occurs in very specific places, often with a specific group of people.

Dr. Palmatier suggests this may be one reason why nicotine is so addictive, because people get used to having that extra satisfaction from things they normally enjoy and not having nicotine could reduce the enjoyment in a given activity.

Dr. Palmatier says people may not necessarily be smoking to obtain a pleasurable drug state, but rather to regulate their mood, and that effect could make nicotine more addictive than other drugs.

He says previous research on nicotine addiction has looked at the drug itself rather than the other factors and he is studying other reasons why people smoke.

Dr. Palmatier's research is on understanding how this phenomenon can be used to better design tobacco addiction treatments, usually offered in patches and pills and is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

His psychological research is focused on addiction and the reinforcing effects of nicotine and he says why people smoke is the question, as nicotine, though a potent drug, does not induce significant amounts of pleasure or euphoria and most smokers are aware of the health risks and want to quit, but it is often more difficult to give up than other drugs.

In experiments with rats Palmatier discovered that rats that are allowed to self-administer nicotine by pushing a lever which switches off the main source of light in their testing environment, earning them a dose of nicotine, weren't really that interested in nicotine by itself.

The researchers realised that what the rats really liked was turning the light off.

Palmatier is now looking at how rats respond to sweet tastes after having nicotine and says preliminary results show that nicotine has comparable effects on sweet tastes and that rats respond more for sugar-water solutions after getting nicotine.

Palmatier says future research will examine whether nicotine can make unpleasant experiences more tolerable, possibly explaining why lighting up after a bad day at work can be tempting.

Palmatier and colleagues published a paper on their research in the August issue of Neuropsychopharmacology.