Nicotine Gum for Pregnant Smokers

For a long time, people have been trying to quit are advised to use smoking cessation products like nicotine gum until they are stopped smoking. But for some time, arguments about the effectiveness of the use of these products to stop smoking permanently were raised specifically because of side effects associated with use of the product. However, a recent study shows that nicotine gum can be very useful for pregnant smokers. Despite the nicotine gum does not help pregnant smokers to get rid of their smoking habits, will help reduce the number of light poles every day. In doing so, their risk of premature delivery or giving birth to a baby with low birthweight. For the study, the research group has 194 pregnant women to participate. The group was divided randomly into two groups that were given nicotine gum and placebo gum, respectively, for 6 weeks. A 6-week period followed by decline. During the testing period, women also underwent counseling for smoking cessation. These women were told to try to cut the number of cigarettes a day and inflated using nicotine gum as a substitute when he felt as necessary. Although dropout rates were not significantly different in the group that took nicotine gum and chewing gum group taking placebo, the number of cigarettes smoked by women the nicotine gum was reduced by 5. 7 units per day on average. Whereas women who chewed placebo gum reduced 3. 5 cigarettes per day. In addition, babies born to women who chewed nicotine gum weighed significantly more than those born to women who chewed placebo gum. Babies born of the nicotine gum group were also born near term compared with those born to women in the placebo gum group. Despite these findings, the research group does not recommend regular use of nicotine gum in pregnant smokers. This is due to the presence of evidence obtained from animal studies showing that nicotine exposure can cause cell alteration in the formation of a growing fetus and increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in infants (SIDS). It is important that pregnant smokers to remember that nicotine gum and nicotine replacement products like patches and pills have not been approved by the FDA for use by pregnant women. It would still be better for the baby to find natural ways to control the urge to smoke without having to use aids to quit smoking.