Scientists Discover Omega-3 Supplements Kill Cravings For Smoking

Omega-3 supplements can help smokers quit the habit, according to latest research. Taking the fatty acid reduces the craving for nicotine, scientists has found out. Smokers who were given omega-3 capsules every day for a month cut their cigarette consumption by 11 per cent compared to those given dummy pills. Dr Sharon Rabinovitz Shenkar, of the University of Haifa, Israel, who carried out the research said:
‘The substances and medications used currently to help people reduce and quit smoking are not very effective and cause adverse effects that are not easy to cope with. The findings of this study indicated that omega-3, an inexpensive and easily available dietary supplement with almost no side effects, reduces smoking significantly.’

Cigarette smoking is known to reduce the levels of essential fatty acids in the brain, especially that of omega-3. A deficiency in omega-3 damages the structure of nerve cells and interrupts communication between nerves in areas of the brain involved with feeling pleasure and satisfaction.

These areas are essential in reward and decision-making, and are very important in addiction, so an omega-3 deficiency makes it harder for the smoker’s body to deal with its craving for another cigarette.

Dr Rabinovitz Shenkar said: ‘Earlier studies have proven that an imbalance in omega-3 is also related to mental health, depression and the ability to cope with pressure and stress. Pressure and stress, in turn, are associated with the urge to smoke. It is also known that stress and tension levels rise among people who quit smoking. Despite all this, the connection between all these factors had not been studied until now.’

Researchers took 48 participants who had smoked for an average 11 years, and who consumed an average of 14 cigarettes a day, and randomly divided them into two groups. One group took a 950mg omega-3 capsule (504mg eicosapentaenoic acid – EPA – and 378mg docosahexaenoic acid – DHA – from cold-water fish) five times a day for 30 days.

The other group took five placebo pills a day for the same amount of time. None of the participants knew which group they had been placed in. After 30 days, the smokers who had taken omega-3 reduced their cigarettes by an average of two a day. This equates to an 11 per cent decrease – even though they were not asked to change their smoking habits in any way.

Additionally, when their craving for nicotine was assessed – by exposing them to smoking-related images after they had abstained from smoking for two hours, they showed a significant reduction compared to at the start of the study.

Meanwhile the group receiving the placebo did not show any significant changes in their craving levels or in the number of cigarettes they smoked a day.

The research was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.