Nicotine quantity and packaging disclosure in smoked and smokeless tobacco products in India.
OBJECTIVE
A variety of smoked and smokeless tobacco products with varying nicotine content are accessible in India. Nicotine quantity in tobacco products has direct bearing on tobacco dependence. Our objective was to estimate nicotine content in various types of smoked and smokeless products. Disclosure for essential health warning was also checked.


METHODS
Liquid-liquid extraction was used for nicotine extraction and high-performance thin layer chromatography technique was applied for quantification of nicotine in seventy-one smoked and smokeless tobacco products.


RESULTS
Significant variation in nicotine content was observed across products. In smoked tobacco, nicotine content varied from 1.01 to 13.0 mg/rod, while in smokeless tobacco products it ranged from 0.8 mg/g to 50.0 mg/g. Moisture content varied from 9% to 21%.


CONCLUSIONS
This work lists a range of smoked and smokeless tobacco products available in this region. We report a wide variability in nicotine quantity across smoked and smokeless tobacco products. Such variation in nicotine content may have important implications for tobacco cessation interventions and policies.
Centre for Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Priyamvada
P
Sharma
Centre for Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Pratima
P
Murthy
Centre for Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Parul
P
Shivhare
D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D059625:Liquid-Liquid Extraction / Q000379:methods; D009538:Nicotine / Q000032:analysis*; D011356:Product Labeling; D019064:Product Packaging; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless / Q000032:analysis*
D009538:Nicotine
High-performance thin layer chromatography; nicotine; packaging disclosures; tobacco; tobacco products