Quitting smoking: no alcohol, easier withdrawal?

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

Quitting smoking through abstinence from alcohol? If you want to quit smoking, you should also leave out alcohol - this makes it easier to get out of nicotine addiction.

For around a third of adults, the cigarette is still part of everyday life. Quitting smoking is therefore one of the most popular resolutions for the new year, especially at the turn of the year. Researchers from Oregon State University have a tip for this: If you reduce your alcohol consumption, you have a better chance of permanently ceasing to smoke.

Liver in full swing

The key to this lies in the breakdown of nicotine: when smoking, nicotine enters the body via the lungs and is finally broken down in the liver. How quickly the organism metabolizes the pollutant varies from person to person. If the liver is on its toes and breaks down the nicotine quickly, the organism is more likely to need replenishment. There are stronger withdrawal symptoms and it is more difficult to quit smoking. If, on the other hand, the breakdown is slow, the nicotine stays in the body longer and the withdrawal symptoms are easier to cope with.

A current study shows that this nicotine breakdown rate can be influenced. In 22 smokers who also drank a lot of alcohol, the researchers examined this rate of degradation before and after a three-week cigarette withdrawal.To do this, the scientists determined the content of the nicotine breakdown product cotinine in saliva and urine samples and used this data to calculate the breakdown rate of their test subjects.

Nicotine breakdown becomes slower

In addition to abstaining from nicotine, the test subjects reduced their alcohol consumption from an average of 29 to a maximum of seven alcoholic drinks per week during the withdrawal period. As a result, the scientists observed a slowing down of nicotine breakdown. “It was previously assumed that this rate was a constant,” says lead author Dr. Sarah Dermody, "but it is not as constant as expected", but is obviously influenced by alcohol consumption.

Less alcohol, fewer withdrawal symptoms

Slowing down has positive consequences: fewer withdrawal symptoms are to be expected and it is easier to get out of the addiction. Dermody and her team want to clarify the interaction between alcohol consumption and nicotine breakdown in further studies.

No effects on women?

In the small study, no slowing down of the breakdown rate could be observed in the participating women. Main author Dermody suspects that this is due to the low alcohol consumption of the participants at the beginning of the study. "In a larger study you probably don't see a gender difference."

Another factor why abstinence can help when you quit smoking: Alcohol has a disinhibiting effect - after a couple of beers or a glass of wine, you tend to turn to the butt again. Those who tackle both vices in the New Year have a better chance of success.

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