CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 38, 244-247, Copyright
© 1988 by American Cancer Society
Nicotine and Smokeless Tobacco
Neal L. Benowitz MD1
1 Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, in San Francisco, California.
The following may be concluded about nicotine and smokeless tobacco use:
• Systemic absorption and levels of nicotine are similar in users of smokeless tobacco and cigarette smokers.
• Data from the few studies performed to date suggest that smokeless tobacco users develop a dependency similar to that for cigarette smokers. Effective treatment strategies to help smokeless tobacco users quit need to be developed. Smokeless tobacco use in young people also poses a concern for later development of dependence on cigarettes.
• The health hazards known to be caused by cigarette smoking and suspected to be related to chronic nicotine exposure are expected to be a hazard of habitual use of smokeless tobacco. A major concern in young males is accelerated coronary artery disease.
• Information about the potential health hazards of nicotine, as well as oral pathology, may be incorporated into educational programs to help discourage the use of smokeless tobacco, with a resultant decrease in the associated cancer risk.
