How Long Does nicotine Stay in the Body & Factors Affecting it?
Nicotine is an addictive chemical that is present in cigarettes and certain tobacco products & their derivatives. Your body splits up nicotine and transforms it into cotinine while you vape. The molecular enzyme that forensic scientists search for while testing for the use of nicotine is cotinine.
Nicotine’s Effects on the Body
One ingests 1 mg of nicotine when you smoke one cigarette which is sufficient to create a calming effect on your central nervous system.
Even small dosage of Nicotine is enough to enhance memory and cognition, reduce hunger, relieve depression, and enhances brain function. It is metabolized in the bloodstream when you smoke nicotine by cigarettes, so it can be detected in the blood, urine, as well as saliva.
How long are nicotine traces are present in your blood?
How long does Nicotine stay in the system? Well, the answer is very simple. Nicotine stays from 1 to 3 days in the blood so you can identify cotinine for up to ten days. You may monitor nicotine in the blood through qualitative as well as quantitative tests. Nicotine, cotinine, and degradation products called anabasine can indeed be found in these samples.
In blood testing, false positives for nicotine are normal. This is generally due to the extreme presence of thiocyanate. It is present in foods such as lettuce and broccoli.
What factors affect how long the nicotine stays in the system?
Although tests may give an overall impression of how actively you have smoked, other variables decide how long your system will be reported with nicotine. These factors include;
Frequency of Smoking
The amount and duration that you consume is the most important indicator of how well nicotine remains in your body. The more tobacco products are used by an individual, the stronger the intensity of nicotine.
User’s Age
The metabolism slowly decreases as people grow older and they also become less active. This implies that nicotine is metabolized by the system at a slightly slower pace, so it lasts active in your body.
Medicines consumed by the Individual
Taking some drugs can affect how easily nicotine is absorbed by your body. For example, antibiotics and phenobarbital can accelerate metabolism, while topical antibiotics and also some medicines for depression can slow down the metabolic rate.
Hormone levels of the Consumer
Females prefer to metabolize nicotine quicker than males. Pregnant women and those on estrogen hormone replacement can clear nicotine better… as estrogen promotes nicotine absorption very quickly. It is essential to remember that tobacco should not be used by pregnant women as it can lead to pregnancy complications.
The bottom line
This brings us to the end of our discussion. The duration nicotine persists in the body relies on the substance being examined, but it typically varies from a few days or even weeks.
Cotinine, a nicotine analog that is frequently screened for, remains for a prolonged period of time in the system. This also depends on the amount being consumed. Lifestyles such as consuming a balanced diet and drinking lots of water will help to more easily detox the nicotine.
