Many women smoke to suppress their appetite in order to avoid weight gain and it is known that smokers have a lower body mass index than those who do not smoke. Scientists have returned to look at the effect of nicotine on appetite suppression once again. A study was carried out at Yale University where scientists looked at the effect of nicotine on mice.
The reason that nicotine suppresses appetite is that it becomes attached to receptors in the brain that influence the desire to eat food. Using mice, the scientists were able to figure out which nerves were affected by nicotine. Cytisine was one of the substances used to stimulate weight loss in the mice and interestingly, it is also used as a smoking cessation medication in Eastern Europe. Nicotine has a high affinity with certain receptors in the hypothalamus that control our desire for food.
The effect of nicotine is known to have a long term effect on weight loss. Smokers notoriously keep off the weight they lose when they take up the habit right up until they quit. The average smoker is said to gain approximately 5.5 pounds when they quit.
We are not advocating that people take up smoking to lose weight but this research could lead to an effective medication being produced that mimics the action of the nicotine on the relevant receptors.