National Cancer Institute
Cancer Control & Population Sciences Home - NCI's Bridge to Public Health Research, Practice and Policy

Grant Details

Grant Number: 5R01CA135884-05 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Hatsukami, Dorothy
Organization: University Of Minnesota
Project Title: Evaluation of Oral Tobacco as a Harm Reduction Method for Smokers
Fiscal Year: 2012
Back to top


Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Oral non-combusted tobacco products have the greatest likelihood of leading to harm reduction compared to other potential reduced exposure products (Gray et al., 2005; Hatsukami & Hecht, 2005). Tobacco companies have been developing and marketing oral tobacco products that appeal to cigarette smokers as a "substitute" for cigarettes. Some public health researchers believe that switching smokers to oral tobacco would lead to a significant reduction in mortality and morbidity and point to data showing significantly less health risk with smokeless tobacco use compared to cigarette smoking. However, very little research has examined if smokers in the US will find oral tobacco products palatable as a cessation aid, the toxicity of these products compared to cigarettes as assessed by biomarkers of exposure and toxicity in humans, and whether or not use of these products will result in significant smoking cessation rates, particularly compared to FDA approved cessation products, such as medicinal nicotine. This proposal describes two studies which will be the first systematic effort to address these questions. The first study will determine the palatability and preference of various oral non-combusted tobacco products in cigarette smokers, which will inform the product to be tested in Study 2. Smokers will be presented with four brands of oral tobacco that are all low in tobacco specific nitrosamine levels but vary in nicotine content and product type. Subjects will sequentially, and in randomized order, sample each of these products and at the end of the sampling period, choose which product that they would like to use during a subsequent 4-week abstinence from smoking. The main outcome measure will be determining the product that is most preferred, which will then be used in the subsequent clinical trial. Other outcome measures include pattern of product use, subjective and physiological responses to the product, withdrawal symptoms from the product and biomarkers of exposure and toxicity. The second study will be a randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of an oral tobacco product compared to a medicinal nicotine product for smokers wishing to quit. Subjects will be randomized to either the most preferred oral tobacco product determined in Study 1 or nicotine gum for a period of 12 weeks. Follow-up will occur at 26 and 52 weeks. The primary outcome variables are abstinence rates across the two products, extent of cigarette reduction in non-abstainers and continued product use after the end of treatment. Other outcome variables are similar to the first study. A cost analysis will be conducted if the oral tobacco product is similar to or exceeds the cessation rates of medicinal nicotine. The results from these studies will help determine the effects and feasibility of using oral tobacco products as both a cessation aid and a method to reduce individual health risk in cigarette smokers.

Back to top


Publications

Subjective Responses to Oral Tobacco Products: Scale Validation.
Authors: Hatsukami DK, Zhang Y, O'Connor RJ, Severson HH
Source: Nicotine Tob Res, 2012 Dec 13;null, p. null.
EPub date: 2012 Dec 13.
PMID: 23239843
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA135884 NCI NIH HHS - U19 CA157345

Back to top


Flavored and nonflavored smokeless tobacco products: rate, pattern of use, and effects.
Authors: Oliver AJ, Jensen JA, Vogel RI, Anderson AJ, Hatsukami DK
Source: Nicotine Tob Res, 2013 Jan;15(1), p. 88-92.
EPub date: 2012 Apr 22.
PMID: 22529222
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NIDA NIH HHS - 5R01DA014404 NIDA NIH HHS - R01 DA014404 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA135884
NCI NIH HHS - R01CA141531 NCI NIH HHS - P50CA13333 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA141531
NCI NIH HHS - 5R01CA135884 NIDA NIH HHS - P50 DA013333

Back to top


Increased pouch sizes and resulting changes in the amounts of nicotine and tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines in single pouches of Camel Snus and Marlboro Snus.
Authors: Stepanov I, Jensen J, Biener L, Bliss RL, Hecht SS, Hatsukami DK
Source: Nicotine Tob Res, 2012 Oct;14(10), p. 1241-5.
EPub date: 2012 Jan 17.
PMID: 22259150
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA135884 NCI NIH HHS - CA-81301 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA141531
NIDA NIH HHS - DA-013333

Back to top


Monitoring tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines and nicotine in novel Marlboro and Camel smokeless tobacco products: findings from Round 1 of the New Product Watch.
Authors: Stepanov I, Biener L, Knezevich A, Nyman AL, Bliss R, Jensen J, Hecht SS, Hatsukami DK
Source: Nicotine Tob Res, 2012 Mar;14(3), p. 274-81.
EPub date: 2011 Oct 29.
PMID: 22039075
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA135884 NCI NIH HHS - CA-81301 NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA141631
PHS HHS - HHSN261201000544P NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA141531

MeSH Terms:
United States Nitrosamines Nicotine
Tobacco, Smokeless

Back to top


Oral tobacco products: preference and effects among smokers.
Authors: Hatsukami DK, Jensen J, Anderson A, Broadbent B, Allen S, Zhang Y, Severson H
Source: Drug Alcohol Depend, 2011 Nov 1;118(2-3), p. 230-6.
EPub date: 2011 Apr 23.
PMID: 21515003
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA135884 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA135884-02 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA135884-05

MeSH Terms:
Smoking Questionnaires Nicotine
Humans Smoking Cessation Adult
Male Female Tobacco, Smokeless

Back to top




Last Updated: August 24, 2012
NIH - Turning Discovery Into Health
National Cancer InstituteU.S. National Institutes of HealthNational Cancer Institute