Together – Experts at the Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade at Seoul National University in Korea confirmed in a recent research study that switching to heated tobacco products increases the chances of quitting smoking completely, noting that the majority of users of heated tobacco products are people who smoked traditional cigarettes before switching to alternative products that rely on heating tobacco instead of burning it.
Experts also pointed out that there is no evidence that heated tobacco products may be a gateway to starting smoking, which is what the study conducted on about 4,514 adults showed. Rather, the study concluded that those who start smoking during adolescence are less likely to choose heated tobacco products, and prefer traditional cigarettes.
What is interesting about the results of this study, which included 2,356 non-smokers, 1,316 traditional smokers, and 842 users of heated tobacco products, is that it showed a greater tendency to switch to heated tobacco products among females, people with more education, those with children, those who work in office jobs, and those with health concerns.
The study also found that adult females aged 20-39 were more likely to switch to HTPs, regardless of their income levels. While males over 40 were more likely to switch to HTPs if they had a higher income.
In this context, the study pointed out that the Korean tobacco market has witnessed a major change since the launch of heated tobacco products in 2017, as their sales volume has increased significantly at the expense of traditional cigarettes. The study provided some data, while heated tobacco product sales represented only about 2.2% of total tobacco sales in the first year of its launch, this percentage rose to 12% in the first half of 2021.
Finally, the experts conclude that the changes in the Korean tobacco market provide an excellent research environment to explore the reasons why smokers adopt heated tobacco products, which is of particular importance to tobacco policymakers and regulators including taxation and market regulation.
Source: Maan News Agency
