title: Assessing Constituent Levels in Smokeless Tobacco Products: A New Approach to Engaging and Educating the Public.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Providing accurate information about the constituents in nicotine-containing products may help tobacco users make informed decisions about product choices. An experimental study examined a novel approach for presenting accurate constituent information about brands and types of smokeless tobacco (SLT) that could be understood by the general public.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk and presented information online about 2 constituent dimensions of SLT products-nicotine and/or toxicity (for simplicity, "toxicity" in this study refers to carcinogenic constituents) Participants completed measures of knowledge and tobacco health risks at 2 time points: before and after exposure to constituent information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were found to increase their knowledge that toxicity contributes to disease risk and nicotine contributes to addiction, that SLT products vary in their levels of nicotine and toxicity, and that both SLT and cigarette products have higher toxicity than medicinal nicotine replacement therapies (e.g., nicotine lozenges). Study results showed no differences when presenting toxicity information alone versus presenting it in conjunction with nicotine information, and found no misperceptions or confusions about the relative harmfulness of cigarettes, SLT, or nicotine replacement therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Providing tobacco constituent information to smokers and nonsmokers will improve their knowledge about the relative toxicity across products and variations within a class of tobacco products without compromising the health risks associated with tobacco use.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN; borgi001@umn.edu.
authors: Eugene
authors: E
authors: Borgida
authors: Department of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN;
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Loken
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN;
authors: Allison L
authors: AL
authors: Williams
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN;
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Vitriol
authors: Division of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN;
authors: Irina
authors: I
authors: Stepanov
authors: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN.
authors: Dorothy
authors: D
authors: Hatsukami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011356:Product Labeling; D012309:Risk-Taking; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless / Q000032:analysis*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens
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