Lobeline is an alkaloid derived from the leaves of an Indian tobacco plant, and has been widely used in commercial smoking remedies. Its adverse effects include dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, and tablets and pastilles containing Lobeline may lead to throat irritation. The review found no adequate long-term trials which could provide evidence that Lobeline can help people stop smoking. One large study with only s ix weeks follow-up did not detect any evidence of short-term b enefit , suggesting that lobeline is not an e ffective treatment.
There is no evidence available from long term trials that lobeline can aid smoking cessation, and the short-term evidence suggests there is no benefit
Lobeline is a partial nicotine agonist, which has been used in a variety of commercially available preparations to help stop smoking.
The objective of this review was to assess the effects of lobeline on long term smoking cessation.
We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group trials register (most recent search December 2011).
Randomized trials comparing lobeline to placebo or an alternative therapeutic control, which reported smoking cessation with at least six months follow-up.
We extracted data in duplicate on the type of subjects, the dose and form of lobeline, the outcome measures, method of randomisation, and completeness of follow-up.
We identified no trials meeting the full inclusion criteria including long term follow-up. One large trial failed to detect any effect on short-term abstinence.