06 Oct Nicotine curbs hunger and aids weight loss – so why not vaping?

Smoking is shown to reduce obesity. Nicotine is an appetite suppressant, helps weight loss, and boosts brain functioning. Vaping is a great alternative.

For decades folks have known that smoking curbs hunger.  Years ago it was viewed as a not-so-great alternative to compulsive eating.  I remember clearly when my mom told me she used that method to help lose weight herself.  And, I’m sure she knew it worked for her, without clinical studies.

Fast forward to today.  Obesity is worse than smoking as the number one killer causing heart attacks, diabetes, and a number of other afflictions. And smoking may have health benefits, according to a Texas A&M study. Researchers found  that it curbs hunger, aids with weight loss and may even slow aging. Everyone knows that tobacco products are bad for your health, but there might be one friendly source of nicotine–Vaping. An e-cigarette with low levels of nicotine prevents Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, boosts brain activity. It could make the bigger killer, obesity, go up in smoke!

The Study

According to their research at Texas A&M, it turns out the nicotine itself—when given independently from tobacco—could help protect the brain as it ages, and even ward off Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

Ursula Winzer-Serhan, PhD, an associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, and her collaborators found that nicotine’s ability to be neuroprotective may be partly due to its well-known ability to suppress the appetite. Their research is published in the Open Access Journal of Toxicology.

Using animal models, Winzer-Serhan and her collaborators added nicotine to the animal’s drinking water. There were three different groups that received nicotine at three different concentrations (low, medium and high) corresponding to occasional, low and medium smokers.

The two groups that received nicotine at low and medium doses didn’t show any levels of the drug in their blood and they experienced no changes. In contrast, the group getting the highest concentration of nicotine ate less, gained less weight and had more receptors, indicating that at higher doses, the drug gets into the brain where it can impact behavior. However, even at high doses, it didn’t seem to have worrying behavioral side effects like making the individuals more anxious, which the researchers were concerned could happen.

Nicotine not as bad but all weight problems are

Many who endorse vaping have claimed for years that nicotine may not harm your health and may actually be beneficial to your health. If it helps obese folks lose weight and not-overweight people stay thin, that’s not all bad. And, vaping with tobacco e-liquid is very enjoyable. Obesity took over from smoking as the new leading killer in lifestyle diseases. That’s because obesity brings so many problems with it–diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, mobility, liver problems, heart disease, inflammation, sleep apnea and more. There are also more people with weight problems than are smokers–two-thirds of folks have BMI (body mass index) over 25 (overweight) and 34 percent of those are obese with a BMI over 30.

Positive health trifecta of nicotine

After all the bad things you’ve read about nicotine this may come as a shock, but nicotine works three ways to boost health. It curbs hunger and helps people avoid overeating. As an appetite suppressant it aids weight loss. And when people eat less and stay at a healthy weight, it gives their brain more to move. It prevents swelling and inflammation of tissue which reduces brain shrinking that obesity causes. Nicotine can boost mental functioning too.

Vaping vs. smoking

Clearly the evidence doesn’t support smoking but vaping could be the solution. Instead of smoke, vapers inhale steam from e-liquid which may or may not contain nicotine. Vaping aids smoking cessation as you can dial down the amount of nicotine unlike patches or gum which is one strength. Vaping to quit smoking is proven to work in numerous studies.  Those who’ve quit smoking with vape find the experience more pleasant than cigarettes (cigars, pipes, tobacco). The funky flavors actually taste and smell good. For weight loss, one might want to avoid “chocolate truffle” or some other flavor that tastes like treat food. There are tons of flavors to choose from.