We all know smoking is not good for us. It can make us very sick and even cause us to die earlier than we should.
In Denmark, almost 16,000 people die every year because they can’t quit smoking.
This is because cigarettes contain a substance called nicotine, which is very addictive. That means once you start smoking, it’s tough to stop. But what if there was a way to make quitting easier?
A Happy Accident
Scientists from the University of Copenhagen were doing a study on a drug called liraglutide, which is usually used to treat diabetes and people who are very overweight.
They were using mice for their study and they made an interesting discovery. The drug seemed to affect how nicotine works in the brain!
Nicotine and the Brain
Nicotine gives your brain a reward by releasing a chemical called dopamine. This is why people like smoking and find it hard to stop.
But the scientists found that liraglutide could reduce this effect. That means it could help people to stop wanting to smoke.
More Research Needed
The scientists weren’t studying nicotine, to begin with. They were looking at whether liraglutide and nicotine could help people lose weight.
Because of this, they need to do more research to see if the drug really can help people quit smoking.
Exciting Possibilities
This is exciting because there aren’t any treatments that can stop nicotine cravings right now. The scientists hope their discovery will encourage other researchers and drug companies to look into this more.
They’re also looking into two substances, GLP-1, and nicotine, that affect our appetite and could help with weight loss.
Working Together
The researchers worked with a team at the University of Copenhagen that study the brain.
They found out that not only can the combination of GLP-1 and nicotine help to reduce food intake, it also causes the body to release less dopamine. That’s what could reduce nicotine cravings and help people quit smoking.
While more research is needed to know for sure, this discovery is a hopeful step toward finding new ways to help people quit smoking.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about the leading cause of death in type 2 diabetes, and if you have diabetes, coffee, and green tea may help you live longer.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies about Keto diet could help control body weight, and blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, and results showing that blueberries strongly benefit people with metabolic syndrome.
The study was published in Cell Reports.
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