Nature 233, 496 (15 October 1971); doi:10.1038/233496a0

Effect of Avena sativa on Cigarette Smoking

C. L. ANAND

47 Clarendon Street, Glasgow NW

IN 1967, in India, I came across a practitioner of ancient Ayurvedic medicine who successfully used a decoction of common oats (Avena sativa) to cure the opium habit. While using an alcoholic extract of the plant on a group of opium addicts, several patients reported a loss of interest in smoking. The drug is listed in the United States Dispensatory and National Formulary¹⁻², yet no reference has been traced regarding its application on smokers (Library of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, personal communication). I have therefore studied the effect of this drug on a group of smokers.

References

1.	United States Dispensatory, twentieth ed., part II, 1513 (1918).
2.	National Formulary of the United States, seventh ed., 60 (1942).