According to a new study, the prevalence of 10th- and 12th-grade students in the United States who use nicotine pouches has exploded. The usage of it has doubled from FY 2023 to FY 2024. Past-30 day nicotine pouch use increased from 1.3% to 2.6%, suggesting youths are increasingly experimenting with and/or regularly using these products. This year’s Monitoring the Future Study provided shocking but crucial information. Researchers studied data provided by 10,146 students and found important demographic disparities in usage patterns.
The only significant outcome in the study – a risk ratio of 2.05 for switching to nicotine pouches over the two year period. That means students are more than twice as likely to be using nicotine pouches in 2024 compared to 2023. The increase is not statistically significant, but this is within the 95% confidence interval of 0.8% to 1.8%. At the same time, the risk ratio goes from 1.9% to 3.4%.
Demographic Insights into Usage Patterns
Out of the 13% who had tried a nicotine pouch, the research identified significant differences by gender, geography and ethnicity in nicotine pouch usage. It found that men had a higher likelihood of using nicotine pouches than women. Rural residents had higher usage rates than residents of urban areas. Those data suggested that youths who identified as non-Hispanic White have increased the most in the frequency of use of nicotine pouches.
Within grade levels, 12th-grade students were more likely to use than 10th-grade students. Increasingly, students who don’t expect to go to a four-year college are the ones turning to nicotine pouches in greater numbers. This emphasizes the role that educational aspirations play in influencing substance use behaviors.
Declining E-Cigarette Use
Nicotine pouches, an emerging alternative to smoking and vaping, are enjoying huge burgeoning popularity. At the same time, the study concluded that electronic cigarette use among youths is decreasing. Nationally, the past-12-month prevalence of e-cigarette use decreased from 20.0% in 2023 to 17.6% in 2024. This trend indicates that there is a real movement away from smoking among young people as they experiment with different ways to consume nicotine.
Together, these findings paint a complicated picture of youth nicotine consumption behaviors. They further underscore the rapidly evolving landscape of adolescent tobacco product use.
“Expanding regulatory protections, public health campaigns, clinical assessment, surveillance, and prevention programs addressing youth nicotine pouch use warrant consideration to improve pediatric population health.” – Adam M. Leventhal, PhD
Implications for Public Health
As nicotine pouches quickly became a major tobacco product, this rapid uptake has alarmed some public health officials and researchers. These results highlight the importance of developing specific interventions to combat this increasing trend between youths. Even in an optimistic scenario, experts are nearly unanimous on the need to expand regulatory protections. They call for complete public health measures to limit potential health harms from rising nicotine intake.
Nicotine pouches are rapidly gaining popularity with adolescents. In order to formulate successful prevention strategies, we need to know what’s fueling this increasing trend.
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