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Nicorette QuickMist nicotine spray helps you quit smoking fast
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
A mouth spray that delivers nicotine to the body faster than a patch or chewing gum will help smokers quit their bad habit faster.
The study was funded by McNeil AB, which makes the nicotine oral spray Nicorette QuickMist.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is one of the ways to help quit smoking, which involves the use of patches, gum, lozenges or nasal spray. All of these products have been on the market for a long time, but the mouth spray is a new product, rarely found in pharmacies. It has a number of advantages over other products: it supplies the body with nicotine faster, causes less irritation than a nasal spray, and can be used at any time to relieve withdrawal symptoms. However, until now little was known about how the oral spray helps to forget about the harmful addiction.
Doctors at Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, and their colleagues at the University Hospitals of Heidelberg and Tübingen, both in Germany, conducted a year-long controlled trial of nicotine aerosol. 479 smokers were divided into two groups: one received NRT via an oral spray for twelve weeks, while the other used a placebo spray containing the alkaloid capsaicin, which mimics the burning sensation of nicotine. In addition, the subjects received some advice on how to quit smoking.
The spray was to be used when it was time to smoke or when the urge for a cigarette was felt, but no more than four sprays per hour and no more than 64 per day. The researchers checked whether the participants abstained from smoking using exhaled air and saliva tests.
The results showed that almost 14% of smokers who used the mouth spray were able to stay smoke-free for a year. The figure is small, but compared to other means, the oral spray was much more effective. Among those who used the placebo aerosol, the number of those who quit smoking for a year was about 6%.
All participants gained weight by week 24 of the study, with the average gain being 4.9 kg for those in the nicotine group and 4.2 kg for those in the placebo group. Both groups reported mild to moderate side effects, but the most common complaints came from the nicotine group, which experienced hiccups, throat irritation, nausea and excessive salivation.
Experts recommend giving preference to oral spray for nicotine replacement therapy, as well as using a set of measures to alleviate withdrawal symptoms and forget about smoking for a long time - perhaps forever.
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