Another study adds credence to the idea that semaglutide – the drug in medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy – could help treat addiction. Researchers found that people who were prescribed the drug for type 2 diabetes were then less likely to seek medical care for tobacco use than those taking other diabetes medications.��

Semaglutide helps treat obesity and type 2 diabetes by mimicking a hormone that reduces appetite and regulates blood sugar levels. Previous research has also linked it to lower rates of cannabis use disorder and alcoholism.��

To learn about semaglutide’s effect on tobacco addiction, at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and her colleagues collected data from electronic health records on nearly 223,000 people in the US with type 2 diabetes and tobacco addiction. Nearly 6000 of them had been prescribed semaglutide, while the rest used one of seven other diabetes medications.

The researchers then tracked whether the individuals met with a healthcare provider for any tobacco use or received smoking cessation medications or counselling within a year of starting the medications.����

After accounting for variables such as age, sex, race and certain health conditions, the team found that those using semaglutide were less likely to receive any form of tobacco-related healthcare, on average, than those taking other medications. The researchers took this as a probable indication that these individuals had been more successful at quitting smoking.

For instance, semaglutide users were 32 per cent less likely to receive this care than insulin users and 18 per cent less likely than metformin users.����

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It could be that people who take semaglutide are less likely to seek medical care for their tobacco use without having necessarily abstained from such products. But Xu says that all the individuals sought tobacco-related healthcare at similar rates before starting their type 2 diabetes medications, so semaglutide may actually have been helpful.��

This study wasn’t a randomised-controlled trial, which is the best form of medical evidence, and so these findings don’t definitively show that semaglutide is behind the effect, says at Pennsylvania State University. Still, other research shows semaglutide reduces activity in brain regions involved with reward processing and cravings, so it is possible that there could be some causal connection.

When will disposable vapes be banned?

Why are disposable vapes being banned?

What about the litter?

Could there be downsides to a ban on disposables?

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What are other countries doing?

Will the laws around smoking change?

The Australian government will try to stamp out recreational vaping by banning nicotine-free vapes and only allowing those with nicotine to be sold by pharmacies in medical-style packaging to people with prescriptions.

“Vaping is creating a whole new generation of nicotine dependency in our community,” Australia’s health minister Mark Butler said in a on 2 May. “It poses a major threat to Australia’s success in tobacco control.”

Since 2021, Australia has only allowed nicotine-containing vapes to be sold by pharmacies to people who have been prescribed them by a doctor to help them quit smoking. However, nicotine-free vapes have been legally available to buy at convenience stores, petrol stations and other retailers.

Because these nicotine-free vapes are difficult to regulate, “there are many cases of products being falsely labelled as nicotine-free or simply not listing nicotine in the ingredients even when it is there”, says at RMIT University in Melbourne.

These nicotine-containing products, which often come in bright packaging with fruity flavours, are getting young people hooked, says at the University of Sydney. According to a national survey, – almost double the rate in 2016 – and research suggests those using them are .

“Although vapes were first introduced as a tool to help adults quit or reduce smoking, these devices are largely used by youth who are not current or ever-users of tobacco,” says at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

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To try to address this, the government will ban nicotine-free vapes and tighten the rules for prescription-only nicotine vapes: the amount of nicotine they are allowed to contain will be reduced, flavours and colourings will be restricted and they will have to be sold in pharmaceutical-looking packaging. Single-use disposable vapes will be banned.

“These are supposed to be pharmaceutical products, so they will have to present that way – no more bubblegum flavours or pink unicorn packaging,” said Butler in a to Australia’s National Press Club on 2 May. A timeline for implementation has not been announced.

Australia has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates, with only . It has achieved this by introducing mandatory plain packaging for cigarettes with graphic health warnings, increasing their cost through taxes and banning smoking in many public areas.

Butler said that cracking down on recreational vaping was crucial to stop these gains from being undone. “We will not stand by and allow vaping to create another generation of nicotine addicts.”

“While there may be potential unintended effects of this decision, for example restricting vaping might drive people back to traditional cigarettes, which are obviously worse, I think these are unlikely and so today’s announcement is a welcome move by the government,” says Jones.

Altering the gut microbiome could help reduce the harmful effects of nicotine on the liver.

Previous studies suggest that smoking tobacco or using nicotine patches can lead to a build-up of nicotine in the gut, which has been linked to more severe non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This condition can lead to liver failure due to scarring and harmful inflammation resulting from high levels of fat in the organ.

Now, research on mice has found that a gut bacterium that degrades nicotine can reduce the severity of this condition.

and at the National Institutes of 91ɫ��Ƭ in Maryland and their colleagues first gave water containing nicotine to six mice with gut bacteria and six mice without gut bacteria to compare how they were affected. In mice without gut bacteria, the levels of nicotine in the gut were higher than in mice with such bacteria.

Next, the team identified a species of bacterium called Bacteroides xylanisolvens that could degrade nicotine in a lab dish using an enzyme called NicX.

To see if the microbe could reduce the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the researchers fed 12 further mice with gut bacteria a diet high in sugar and cholesterol along with water containing nicotine for 20 weeks to induce the condition. Some of the mice were also given a dose of B. xylanisolvens every three days via a tube into the stomach, and these mice had roughly half as much nicotine in their intestines.

What’s more, the livers of mice given the bacterium had less scarring and inflammation than other mice, suggesting the microbe counteracted nicotine’s harmful effects.

The researchers also analysed stool samples from 41 smokers with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and found that people with higher levels of B. xylanisolvens in their faeces had less severe liver disease.

Sun suggests that a probiotic containing the NicX enzyme could be developed for use in people, to decrease nicotine levels and ward off fatty liver disease.

However, more research is needed to see if this would work and it shouldn’t be seen as a way to keep smoking, says Gonzalez. “It’s very hard to actually alter the human microbiome long term, limiting such an approach,” he says.

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