New Delhi, April 14: Unable to curb the sale of tobacco-related products, the Government has now initiated a bid to provide smokers with a nicotine replacement alternative. It is now ascertaining if Quitobac, an indigenous herbal chewable pill, claimed to be nicotine-free, could be a substitute to cigarettes for smokers willing to quit the habit causing deadly cancer.
As the battle between the tobacco and anti-tobacco lobby rages in the Supreme Court, the Government is pinning its hopes on the pill and has initiated steps to conduct its tests for its efficacy.
“We are writing to the Ayush Department to conduct test on the pills to check its manufacturers claim that it can help smokers quit smoking,” a senior Health Ministry official said.
He said if the results are found to be positive, steps would be taken to ensure that the herbal formulation (Quitobac) is introduced in the market on a large- scale to reach out to each smoker including those in rural areas. According to an estimate, smoking kills around nine lakh people annually in the country.
Concerned at the disturbing trend, the official said that we have to be doubly sure that the pill is cheap and easily available at least for those hailing from economically weaker section.
Introduced by Birlaveda, a division of Birla Research and Lifesciences Ltd (A Yash Birla Group Company) Quitobac pill claims to help suppress nicotine urge of the smokers.
The tablet contains Ayurvedic herbs like Yastimadhu, Khadir, Lavang, Ela, Tulsi etc each in a standardised potent extract form. It is the ingredient Eugenol in Quitobac that curb the tobacco craving in smokers, claims the manufactures.
Eugenol present in Lavang herb assists the conversion of nicotine into cotinine. Cotinine is the metabolite of nicotine that is excreted through urine so less nicotine then reaches to your brain receptors.
Moreover, while it has no side effects, there are other benefits as Quitobac contains ingredients like amla, an anti-aging herb because of anti-oxidants, vitamin C and Tannoid.
Moreover, herbs such as Brahmi and Shankapushpi that modulate the activities of brain help curing depression – a phase during tobacco cession. Another ingredient Yastimadhu inhibits the monoamine oxide which regulates the norepinephrine and dopomine of the brain, claims the manufacturer.
——–Agencies