Study Highlights Prominent Role of Fruit Flavours in UK Stop Smoking Services

• Nearly all UK stop smoking services offer vaping products as part of cessation support, with flavoured options playing a central role.
• Fruit flavours are the clear leading choice, most commonly provided and preferred among service users.
• The study shows flavour variety is actively used in real-world quit programmes to help smokers transition away from combustible cigarettes.
• The findings come amid ongoing policy debates and highlight the need for regulation to reflect how vaping products are actually used in frontline stop smoking services.

A study published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science used Freedom of Information data  to establish to what extent flavouredva vaping products are utilized by local authority stop-smoking services.

The study shows that stop smoking services across the UK do not just provide vaping products — they offer a range of flavoured options to support smokers trying to quit.

Among the providers surveyed, nearly 90% said that they provided vaping products to smokers trying to quit. And more than 78.9% reported that fruit flavours were the most popular or most frequently provided to service users. This makes fruit flavours the clear leading choice.

These findings provide insight into how stop smoking services operate in practice, with flaour variety often used to encourage smokers to move away from combustible cigarettes.

The findings come at a time when policymakers in the UK are discussing how flavours in products like vapes are regulated in the future.

The research found that flavours are embedded in the way real-world stop-smoking sevives deliver support, with fruit flavours being an integral part of smoking cessation programmes rather than a nice-to-have or secondary feature.

Dr Marina Murphy, co-author and Senior Director of Scientific Affairs at Haypp, said:

“The findings show that flavoured options-particularly fruit flavours-are widely provided and frequently preferred by service users, reflecting their value as part of effective smoking cessation support.”

This publication adds valuable new, real-world evidence to the ongoing public health debate around flavoured alternative nicotine products.

Rather than focusing on theory or ideal world scenarios, the research examines how vaping products are currently being used by stop smoking services across the country. The widespread provision of flavoured products, the authors argue, points ot their practical role in helping smokers transition away from cigarettes.  

Murphy added:

“The paper reinforces the case for maintaining access to a range of flavours in  smoking cessation toolkits, thereby helping ensure that adult smokers have access to products that work for them.”

The study’s message is clear. NHS stop smoking services are  providing flavoured vaping products because this is whathelps people to quit smoking.

As the UK considers future regulations, the findings highlight the importance of considering evidence from front cessation services — ensuring that smokers continue to have access to the options that best support their efforts to quit.