Are nicotine pouches like Zyn healthier than cigarettes? Here's what you need to know.
What are nicotine pouches?
Nicotine pouches are small, breath mint-sized microfiber pockets filled with nicotine powder, either from a tobacco plant or made in a lab, that are tucked between the user's cheek and gums.
Advertisement
Zyn is a brand of nicotine pouches, the most popular for the product based on
Across brands, the pouches are sold in small cans with around 15-20 pouches in each for roughly $6 a can. The pouches are also made in multiple flavors, but those products'
sale is limited in many communities, including in Massachusetts by a 2020 ban on
Mountains are reflected in the windows of the international headquarters of Zyn parent company Philip Morris International, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Laurent Gillieron/Associated Press
Who's using them?
The pouches have quickly gained traction — the cans are seen anywhere from the desks of
Advertisement
In the first quarter of 2025, Zyn shipments increased by 53 percent from2024, according to Philip Morris.
'There used to be a couple brands, and now it seems like there's a lot of new competitors jumping in,' said Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association.
The rise in use among young people is worrying doctors and public health officials — nicotine pouches were the second most commonly-used tobacco product among middle and high school students in 2024, lagging behind only e-cigarettes, according to the
Much of the draw for young people to nicotine pouches, said Elise Stevens, an assistant professor at UMass Chan Medical School and director of the school's Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training, is built-in to the product — the pouches are easy to use and very discreet, packed in a small, colorful tin. Once they're placed in someone's cheek, they're barely noticeable.
'This can be something that is really appealing to young people because it can be hidden from teachers or from others in places where you're not supposed to smoke or vape,' said Stevens.
Containers of Zyn, a smokeless nicotine pouch, are displayed for sale among other nicotine and tobacco products at a newsstand on Feb. 23, 2024, in New York.
Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press
Are nicotine pouches bad for you?
The short answer from doctors and public health officials: a resounding 'yes.' The experts are worried what health effects will arise a few years down the line from the products, namely dramatic increases in gum disease cases.
Advertisement
However, the pouches can offer a form of harm reduction for a select group of people, said Sharon Levy, chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. For older adults who are already addicted to nicotine from cigarettes, the pouches can provide an alternative to move away from smoking. The switch is not a treatment for substance use disorders, she said, but rather just switching the use to a potentially less harmful form.
The US Food and Drug Administration in January authorized the marketing of 20 Zyn products nationwide — two nicotine concentration amounts for 10 different flavors — on the basis of lower health risks than other tobacco products.
What are the health risks of using nicotine pouches?
The broad use of nicotine pouches is relatively new, so the long-term health impacts will have to wait.
While nicotine does not introduce the body to the same chemicals as cigarette smoke, researchers have found numerous
The risk of addition is one of the most immediate concerns voiced by doctors. Nicotine in any form is highly addictive, said Levy, but the most addictive products are ones that get nicotine to the brain the fastest at the highest concentrations, making nicotine pouches a 'very addictive form,' she said, especially for children and young adults, whose brains are more susceptible to addiction and are first being introduced to nicotine through the pouches.
Advertisement
Maren Halpin can be reached at
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Atlantic
8 hours ago
- Atlantic
Nicotine Is in Unchartered Territory
For the better part of the past century, the case against nicotine was simple: Smoking a cigarette might feel nice, but it will eventually kill you. Nearly one in five deaths in the United States is caused by complications from cigarette smoke. Chewing tobacco is less dangerous, but still deadly: It has long been associated with head and neck cancers. But in 2025, nicotine isn't so straightforward. Smoking is so deadly not because of nicotine, per se, but because of tobacco: Lighting a cigarette burns tobacco, releasing nicotine into the body. Chewing tobacco entails gnawing on actual tobacco leaves. Nowadays, it's easier than ever to get a nicotine buzz without any tobacco at all: Just puff on a vape or pop a tiny nicotine pouch between your teeth and upper lip. These cigarette alternatives have been around for a while, but only recently have they gone fully mainstream. In January, the FDA officially sanctioned the sale of Zyn, among the most recognizable nicotine-pouch brands. In the past three months alone, Philip Morris International, which makes Zyn, shipped 190 million cans of the stuff to stores. And last month, the agency reversed a prior ruling and authorized Juul e-cigarettes. These products, the FDA has concluded, 'generally have lower health risks than cigarettes.' In this nicotine boom, it's easy to see the drug as harmless, even good for you. Ads that tout the benefits of nicotine are everywhere: Zyn, for example, has been marketed as an 'office essential' that also offers 'relaxation on-the-go.' Nicotine somehow feels both energizing and relaxing at the same time, kind of like the buzz of a vodka Red Bull. The drug has been linked to statistically significant improvements in a number of cognitive exercises. The marketing goes further: Joe Rogan has hawked Athletic Nicotine, a nicotine-pouch brand that claims the drug can serve as an 'exercise performance-enhancing tool.' Tucker Carlson—who has his own brand of nicotine pouches—recently claimed that because of nicotine, he is 'never sick.' But nicotine is not a wonder drug. The cognitive improvements found in studies were modest. Bethea AnnaLouise Kleykamp, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland who has studied nicotine, summed it up this way: The drug 'might be, if you were to subtract it from the smoke, something that could help some people,' such as those who are sleep-deprived or have a cognitive disorder like ADHD. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Moreover, there's still a lot we don't know about what nicotine alone does to the body. All of this has nicotine in a strange place. Before the advent of newer products, the field of public health was united in its stance that no one should be using cigarettes, and thus nicotine. Now the message is more muddled than ever. Some public-health experts still suggest staying away from nicotine in and of itself. After the decades-long war against smoking, they see new products as Big Tobacco's latest gambit to hook the public. Others make a different calculation: If the health effects of nicotine alone are less concerning than those of cigarettes, what's so bad about an adult sucking on a Zyn? Presuming people recognize that these products 'may have some health risks,' Neal Benowitz, an emeritus professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, told me, 'I have no problem with that.' Such differing views stem from the unclear health effects of cigarette alternatives. Consuming nicotine via vape or pouch is surely safer than smoking a cigarette, but that isn't saying much. No researchers I spoke with gave nicotine an unequivocal endorsement. 'I would never go so far as to say that any drug is completely safe,' Jed Rose, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Duke University who runs a research firm that has done paid research for nicotine companies, told me. 'Whether nicotine contributes in any way to other diseases associated with smoking is not as firmly resolved as people like to think.' Rose cited a study that showed nicotine accelerated tumor growth in mice. Other experts I spoke with cited data from Sweden demonstrating that smokeless products carry some cardiovascular risks. And emerging research indicates that the components inside of vapes can leach heavy metals into the mist that users inhale, potentially exposing them to increased cancer risk. For the most part, science simply hasn't answered the question of how bad nicotine alone is for you. Most of the studies on the bodily effects of nicotine have been completed using subjects who smoke. For now, the clearest problem with puffing on a Juul is that nicotine remains extremely addictive, whatever form it comes in. Addiction researchers have said that nicotine is just as difficult to quit as heroin. Smokeless products might be a little easier to quit than cigarettes, based on how they deliver nicotine. But it's reasonable to assume that these new products will also worsen the problem of nicotine addiction by making the drug easier to consume. Desk workers can pop nicotine pouches without having to step away for a smoke break. Vape clouds are more readily concealed than the stench of cigarette smoke. This is part of the appeal: Rogue, a Zyn competitor, advertises its product as a way to 'enjoy the nicotine you love without getting noticed, whether you're in a marathon of meetings, perfecting your meal-prep, or just can't step away for a smoke break.' (Rogue, like other nicotine brands, has to legally include warnings in its ads that its products are addictive.) The effects of an addiction alone are not typically a first-order concern in the world of public health. Addictions typically come with other, more pressing consequences: For cigarettes, it's heart attacks and cancer; for heroin, it's overdoses. Anyone who has seen photos of smokers hooked to oxygen or revealing their lung-cancer scars can attest that public health has become expert in warning potential victims of these types of health problems. The risks of a nicotine addiction without the smoke are murkier. 'There are interpersonal, intrapersonal, and economic consequences to being addicted,' Eric Donny, a neuroscience professor at Wake Forest University who studies nicotine, told me. 'It's really hard to quantify this in a way that we are used to.' Nicotine boosters have compared the drug to caffeine—which is also addictive, but generally not a problem. (Hence the Death Before Decaf shirts, tote bags, and even tattoos.) But research suggests that nicotine addiction is more intense than a caffeine dependency, potentially taking a bigger toll on people's lives. The financial costs alone can be onerous: Nicotine prices vary a lot from state to state, but in Washington, D.C., where I live, someone with an extreme Zyn habit may be shelling out upwards of $10 a day to feed their addiction. A Juul isn't much cheaper. With either product, a heavy user is likely to spend several thousands of dollars a year. Addiction can also take a psychological toll. Being hooked on nicotine means your brain is always screaming for another hit of the drug. At times, the longing can feel insatiable, and can force people to act in ways that are entirely against their own self-interest. A teen addicted to vaping might take a few puffs in the school bathroom, even if getting caught might mean a suspension. Or a longtime user may continue to pop nicotine pouches after a heart attack, despite research showing that quitting nicotine significantly reduces someone's risk of death. These downsides might seem minuscule compared with those of cigarettes. A rotting lung is considerably worse than a $10-a-day nicotine habit. But they shouldn't be ignored. If cigarette-smoking rates continue their decades-long drop, it's reasonable to assume that vaping and pouches will become the dominant ways people consume nicotine. New nicotine products might have solved the biggest problem with smoking. Many other, more subtle problems still remain.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Restores Public School Program Axed by Obama Administration
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump on Thursday will move to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test, a decades-old program designed to encourage healthy, active lifestyles among American schoolchildren. First launched in 1966, the test once required students to run and complete exercises such as situps, pullups or pushups, along with a sit-and-reach flexibility assessment. It was overhauled in 2012 under the Obama administration to emphasize personal health goals rather than athletic performance. Trump "wants to ensure America's future generations are strong, healthy, and successful," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that the goal is to foster "a culture of strength and excellence for years to come." In a White House ceremony Thursday afternoon, Trump is expected to sign an order reestablishing both the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and the fitness test itself. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will oversee the program, which will also introduce a new Presidential Fitness Award. This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow. This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Vatican strikes a solar deal that aims to make it the world's first carbon-neutral state
Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions. Advertisement Pope Francis last year tasked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy. Advertisement The agreement signed Thursday stipulates that the development of the site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimize the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros to develop the solar farm, and that once approved by Italy, the contracts to do the work can be put up for bids. In the 1990s at the height of the controversy, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
