Smokers prefer cold turkey

Cold turkey is the preferred method for giving up smoking according to public health researchers at the University of Sydney. With more than two-thirds of smokers giving up permanently this way, the research team wants to know why. Led by Sally Dunlop , a research specialist in the determinants of health-related behaviours, the team is launching a study that will investigate how and why smokers choose different methods for giving up. Officially labelled 'unassisted cessation' the cold turkey method is the most common form of successful smoking cessation. According to Dunlop this method has been understudied and unexploited as the major contributor to national cessation rates. "Both prior to and since the advent of nicotine replacement and other pharmacological therapies, unassisted cessation has proved to be the approach which most smokers use to finally stop. "We believe it is time to pay much closer attention to the potential role of the cold turkey method," says Dunlop.