Vapeboss – Toxicologist and academician at the Faculty of Public Health, Airlangga University, Shoim Hidayat, revealed that nicotine actually has various benefits for the human body.

In addition to helping reduce feelings of depression, nicotine can also help release hormones that induce pleasure and prevent several diseases related to human brain performance such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

“For example, for people who are depressed, nicotine can help reduce the feeling of depression they are experiencing," said Shoim.

Unfortunately, nicotine often receives negative stigma just like other chemicals. In fact, its risks can be reduced if nicotine consumption is within reasonable limits and consumed in a lower-risk manner, such as using alternative tobacco products.

Based on scientific studies from both within and outside the country, the use of alternative tobacco products such as heated tobacco, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches carries 90 to 95 percent lower risks than conventional cigarettes.

"Cigarettes are burned at temperatures that can reach over 600 degrees. The combustion process produces smoke that can trigger various dangerous diseases. Meanwhile, nicotine delivered through alternative tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, is done through a heating process and does not produce smoke," he explained.

"So, alternative tobacco products have an average risk of 90 percent lower than cigarettes because these products do not go through a combustion process," he continued.

Shoim explained that the effectiveness of nicotine in alternative tobacco products in intervening in individuals with mental health conditions has been proven in research conducted by the Founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the University of Catania Italy, Ricardo Polossa, and his team on 40 schizophrenic patients.

From the results of the study published on the National Institute of Health website, a medical research institution under the US Department of Health and Human Services, schizophrenic patients with a smoking habit have a much higher prevalence than the general adult population.

However, when alternative tobacco products were introduced to schizophrenic patients, they were able to completely switch from cigarettes and did not experience a worsening of psychotic symptoms during the study, even though doctors reduced the dosage of antipsychotic medication they were consuming.

"So overall, we improve their quality of life and reduce the dosage of antipsychotic drugs," Ricardo explained.

However, this research is the result of a pilot project involving a limited number of patients. Currently, they are replicating the same study with more participants.

Source: Medcom