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A recent study of stroke victims with a history of smoking addiction has revealed that those who suffered damage to part of their brain called the insula were able to give up smoking almost immediately and without any cravings. Stroke victims who suffered damage to another part of the brain were not able to give up smoking with such ease, which has led researchers to the conclusion that the insula holds the key to tackling a person’s addiction to cigarettes. As the insula appears to translate information from other parts of the body into feelings of hunger, pain and cravings, this could have implications for treating conditions other than smoking, such as drug addiction and over-eating.

As well as controlling cravings for things considered to be harmful, the insula also carries out normal, every day activities like reminding us to eat when our body requires food for energy, so a way of targeting particular functions of the insula would have to be developed so as not to cause overall harm to the patient. Having said this, the discovery is still very exciting as the damage to the insula appears to break many smokers’ habit immediately; their brains seem to just forget that they are supposed to crave cigarettes.

A pharmacological development which can target the insula will be years away so for the time being smokers will have to persevere with battling the cravings or take one of the two drugs on the market: Zyban or the more successful Champix.