US CDC Discusses Major Boom in Nicotine Pouch Sales

Recent figures released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have indicated that sales of nicotine pouches (NPs) in the US have grown 300 times larger over the last five years.

Diane Caruana

April 12, 2022

Swedish snus had fewer health risks than cigarettes, while NPs contain less toxins than snus.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the study looked into sales of NPs between March 2016 and June 2020. The research team found that sales of nicotine pouches have grown 300 times larger over the five years since they entered the US market in 2016. More specifically they rose from $709,635 in 2016 to $216.89m in just the first six months of 2020, equating to 163,178 units in 2016, to almost 46m units sold in 2020.

Moreover, reported the CDC as quoted by TobaccoIntelligence, mint flavours were most commonly sold across the study period. However, sales of fruit-flavoured pouches rose more rapidly than mint and other non-fruit or non-mint flavours.

Nicotine pouches carry less toxins than snus

In other news, a recent study published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, evaluated the toxicant levels of Nicotine Pouches comparing them to snus and nicotine replacement therapy products (NRTs).

Titled, “Chemical characterization of tobacco-free “modern” oral nicotine pouches and their position on the toxicant and risk continuums,” NPs were analyzed for 24-26 compounds applicable to oral tobacco. Furthermore, twenty of these compounds were used to compare the toxicant profile of NPs, as well as estimated daily toxicant exposure from NP use, with that of tobacco/nicotine products spanning the risk continuum.

The compiled data indicated that when compared to cigarettes, Swedish snus was found to carry significantly fewer health risks, while in comparison to snus, NPs had lower levels of 10 HPHCs and comparable/undetectable levels of a further 13. The researchers found that across the product categories analyzed, NPs and NRTs had the lowest toxicant profiles and estimations of relative toxicant exposure.