Nicotine Pouches in Great Britain: Insights from Recent Research

• Nicotine pouch use in Great Britain rose between 2020 and 2025.
• Pouches are increasingly used to quit smoking, but the effectiveness of this approach needs to be shown in longitudinal clinical studies.
• Current regulations are limited; balanced policies are needed to protect youth and promote harm reduction.

New research published in The Lancet Public Health describes changing patterns of nicotine pouch use in the UK, with over half a million Brits now using these products.

The authors analysed cross-sectional data collected annually from 2020 to 2025 to understand population-level patterns of nicotine pouch use in Great Britain. This approach allowed them to track how these products are being adopted across the population, including their role in smoking cessation attempts and their reach into groups where smoking is already rare.

Notably, the use of nicotine pouches as an aid to quit smoking rose over the study period, reaching 6.5% of recent quit attempts in 2025 compared to 2.6% in 2020.

This figure is higher than the proportion involving varenicline (1.1%) or prescription nicotine replacement therapy (NRT, 4.5%), though still lower than over-the-counter NRT (17.3%) or e-cigarettes (40.2%).

However, it is important to note that these findings reflect self-reported reasons for use, rather than confirmed behaviour change. As the authors of this study and a 2025 Cochrane review point out, further evidence from longitudinal and randomised studies is needed to determine whether nicotine pouches are effective for smoking cessation.

As with other non-combustible nicotine products, the overall public health impact will depend on whether pouches help people move away from smoking and their uptake by non-smokers.

The authors cited a different study published in 2025 the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport that concluded that pouches are also being used among groups where smoking is already rare. That group reported that 42% of professional male football players in England have used pouches, yet fewer than 1 in 10 of them reported doing so as an alternative to smoking.

In a press release from the University of College London, the lead author Harry Tattan-Birch was quoted as saying, “Pouches have a substantially lower risk to health than cigarettes and are likely less harmful than e-cigarettes. However, they are not harmless and can currently be sold to children with no marketing restrictions and no cap on nicotine content.

Our findings underscore the urgency of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will close this regulatory gap by ending sale to under-18s, restricting advertising, and providing powers to regulate flavours, packaging, and nicotine content. Proportionate measures are important to limit uptake among teenagers.”

In conclusion, nicotine pouch use has increased in Great Britain since 2020, and pouches are now being used by over half a million people. Trends show that pouches are increasingly being used in ways intended to support smoking cessation or reduction, although their actual effectiveness for this purpose remains to be established.

As such, there is both potential for harm reduction and risk of uptake among nicotine-naive groups. Effective regulation is needed and should minimise risks to youth without decreasing the potential that pouches might have to reduce smoking-related disease.