COMPARISON OF MEASURED AND FTC-PREDICTED NICOTINE UPTAKE IN SMOKERS

Cigarette smokers have a wide variety of ''tar'' and nicotine yields t o choose from in the current market, ranging from 0.5 mg ''tar'' and l ess than 0.05 mg nicotine to 27 mg ''tar'' and 1.8 mg nicotine by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) method. To understand better the relati onship between FTC nicotine yields and actual nicotine uptake in smoke rs, we have studied nicotine uptake in 33 smokers of self-selected pro ducts representing four ''tar'' groupings: 1 mg ''tar'' (1MG), ultra-l ow ''tar'' (ULT), full-flavor low ''tar'' (FFLT), and full flavor (FF) cigarettes. These cigarette categories had mean FTC nicotine yields o f 0.14, 0.49, 0.67, and 1.13 mg/cigarette, respectively. The subjects smoked their usual brand of cigarette ad libitum and provided a 24-h u rine sample for total nicotine uptake analysis over a period during wh ich the number of cigarettes smoked was recorded. Nicotine uptake was determined by monitoring urinary nicotine and its metabolites, includi ng the glucuronide conjugates. Daily nicotine uptake was 9.1+/-7.3 mg (range 1-21 mg) for 1MG, 19.2 +/- 10.0 mg (range 4-42 mg) for ULT, 21. 8 +/- 19.4 mg (range 13-38 mg) for FFLT, and 37.1 +/- 14.4 mg (range 2 1-60 mg) for FF smokers. On a per cigarette basis, yields were 0.23 +/ - 0.11, 0.56 +/- 0.23, 0.60 +/- 0.18, and 1.19 +/- 0.43 mg nicotine, r espectively. Although individual variability was fairly large (CVs of 0.39-0.80), means for the different groups showed that lower FTC yield smokers not only absorb less nicotine per 24-h period, but also per c igarette smoked. These data suggest that nicotine uptake is a function of individual smoking behavior within product design limits. We concl ude from these data that, while FTC yield cannot precisely predict nic otine uptake for an individual smoker, it is useful in predicting and comparing actual nicotine uptake by smokers who select cigarettes with a particular FTC yield.