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Originally developed to help people quit smoking, oral nicotine pouches are increasingly being portrayed as trendy and pleasurable—especially to young people—according to a researcher at UBC Okanagan.

Dr. Laura Struik, Associate Professor in UBCO’s School of Nursing, led a study examining how TikTok content appears to promote nicotine pouches, notably the brand Zyn, as a lifestyle choice rather than a cessation aid.

“Oral nicotine pouches have become a popular alternative nicotine product, especially among youth,” she says. “This is concerning, given the substantial health risks associated with nicotine use at an early age. Popular, youth-led social media channels are being used to promote these products as a source of pleasure and indulgence.”

The study, published in JMIR Formative Research, analyzed 250 TikTok videos that together generated 16,488,662 likes, more than 114,120 comments and almost two million shares according to the platform’s engagement metrics.

“Understanding the ways that people communicate about these products on social media is critical to informing public health efforts aimed at protecting youth from the harms of nicotine,” Dr. Struik adds.

Long-term use of oral nicotine pouches can lead to serious health problems, she warns, including gum recession, tooth decay, harmful mouth bacteria, oral cancer and heart issues. Although roughly 6% of the videos mentioned these effects, the majority framed pouch use as enjoyable and normalized it as part of youth culture.

Creators showcased how pouches are easy, discreet and shareable, sometimes demonstrating use of multiple pouches at once. Many clips feature people using pouches while doing everyday activities—working, exercising—emphasizing how seamlessly they fit into daily life.

“One particular brand was framed as empowering, exclusive and socially desirable, where using the brand meant that you were part of a movement,” Dr. Struik notes. That brand often appeared with a common hashtag, signaling membership in a shared identity group.

“When a hallmark of brain development during adolescence is identity development, where teens explore who they are and experiment with different behaviors, like the use of nicotine products, it becomes really clear why these pouches would be especially appealing to a young person,” she says.

The findings illustrate not only how these pouches are being shown positively on youth-led platforms, but also why their popularity is rising among young people. “Social media serves as a powerful tool for the tobacco industry in normalizing the use of their products among youth—a profitable demographic for the industry because of young people’s propensity to become addicted to these products,” Dr. Struik adds.

“This is a runaway train that we will be chasing after for years. They are not cessation products; they are nicotine addiction starters.”

More information: Ashmeet Mand et al., Examining How Oral Nicotine Pouches Are Trending on TikTok: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, JMIR Formative Research (2025). DOI: 10.2196/73032

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