Snus use doubles alcohol dependency risk

People who use snus run twice the risk of developing alcohol dependency compared with non-users, warns a study, suggesting that nicotine dependency in any form could lead to alcohol addiction.

The researchers added that the more one uses snus, the higher the risk.

"This is the first time research has succeeded in showing that middle-aged people who use snus run an increased risk of developing alcohol dependency," said Margareta Norberg, adjunct lecturer at the Umea University in Sweden.

The study is based on the Vasterbotten Intervention Programme that annually invites those aged 40, 50 and 60 (30-year olds only until 1996) to health centres for a health examination and a dialogue with a trained nurse with the aim of preventing ill-health with a focus on cardiovascular disease.

The participants also fill in a comprehensive survey which, among other things, is about lifestyle and problems related to alcohol consumption.

The current study included 21,000 people who were aged 30, 40 or 50 between 1991-1997.

None of the participants then showed signs of alcohol dependency. A quarter of the men, 25 percent, and slightly less than 4 percent of the women used snus upon the first examination.

The study showed that after ten years, alcohol dependency developed for just under eight percent of snus users and three percent among those who did not use snus.

Men showed slightly higher figures for alcohol dependency than women. In total, 499 men and 257 women developed alcohol dependency.

Those who, upon the first investigation, where aged 50, had a lower risk than those aged 30.

The study appeared in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.