Live data from Hacker News

Nicotine (2016)

gwern.net

11–20 of 273 posts

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#11
I'm concerned that many might miss the nuance and subtlety of the main issue:

- Nicotine IS really addictive when distributed through common uses (smoking, vaping).

Yes, if the absorption is progressive and in small dosages, the addiction is less severe, but this is not useful for smokers who want to quit and presents a dangerous introduction for others

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#13
post #9

Nicotine is just terrible for you. Smoking is linked to alzheimers and I watched my grandfather smoke his pipe and decline cognitively with that disease. Im not sure if its only proven from the toxins in smoke or the nicotine but I would assume constricting the blood vessels (with nicotine) leads to plaque buildup in the body and brain. Because of the vessel constriction is stops healing in the body as well all the w…

Isn't caffeine a vasoconstrictor as well? Wouldn't that make coffee a silent killer?

Maybe it is? It's really hard to know what things will cause damage over decades.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#14
post #2

Smoking will give you cancer, and nicotine will make you addicted so you can never ever stop.

The article wasn’t talking about smoking, and nicotine is not addictive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

> Nicotine is highly addictive.

https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-n...

> Is nicotine addictive? Yes.

---

If nicotine wasn't addictive, why would people find that nicotine patches or nicotine gum helps with withdrawals from various tobacco products?

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean smoking is terrible for you. As the cited studies indicate, nicotine itself (delivered by patched / gum) is fairly harmless. Not completely risk free, but nothing at all like smoking.

No, I mean nicotine as I clearly indicated in my comment. It's not harmless and its ridiculous to think a drug that constricts the vessels and blood flow in your body would be so.

Like caffeine?

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#16

I'm concerned that many might miss the nuance and subtlety of the main issue: - Nicotine IS really addictive when distributed through common uses (smoking, vaping). Yes, if the absorption is progressive and in small dosages, the addiction is less severe, but this is not useful for smokers who want to quit and presents a dangerous introduction for others

I used gum to come off vapes, and I still use gum. Over time, I’ve started to notice my tolerance is … decreasing? I’m now cutting a 2mg gum (lowest dose) in 4 with a pill cutter, and that’s about the right amount

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#17

I'm concerned that many might miss the nuance and subtlety of the main issue: - Nicotine IS really addictive when distributed through common uses (smoking, vaping). Yes, if the absorption is progressive and in small dosages, the addiction is less severe, but this is not useful for smokers who want to quit and presents a dangerous introduction for others

100% correct. This article circulates every so often but it's basically just super dangerous. Recommend just looking at NIH [0] here.

[0]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nicotine+site%3Awww.ncbi.nlm.nih.g...

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#19
post #9

Nicotine is just terrible for you. Smoking is linked to alzheimers and I watched my grandfather smoke his pipe and decline cognitively with that disease. Im not sure if its only proven from the toxins in smoke or the nicotine but I would assume constricting the blood vessels (with nicotine) leads to plaque buildup in the body and brain. Because of the vessel constriction is stops healing in the body as well all the w…

Isn't caffeine a vasoconstrictor as well? Wouldn't that make coffee a silent killer?

Theres a lot of people who are dumping caffeine for all sorts of reasons. Caffeine does indeed constrict blood vessels and thats probably not great tbh. But people (including myself) love their cup of coffee.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#20

I'm concerned that many might miss the nuance and subtlety of the main issue: - Nicotine IS really addictive when distributed through common uses (smoking, vaping). Yes, if the absorption is progressive and in small dosages, the addiction is less severe, but this is not useful for smokers who want to quit and presents a dangerous introduction for others

I have zero interest in cigarettes though. So like, let's say I started chewing a gum and then I became addicted to the gum. I'm assuming the downside here would be primarily withdrawal effects of not chewing the gum? It's not like it's going to be a gateway to cigarettes for me. You'll experience caffeine withdrawal too, so I'm not sure that's really a problem.

From the article,

> There is little evidence from the NRT literature that ‘never-smokers’ like myself are all that likely to become highly addicted,

That is to say, it does not seem to present a dangerous introduction for others, assuming you mean an introduction to cigarettes.

Post reply on HN