Nicotine and Type 1 Diabetes: The Research

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune attack on the insulin-making cells of the pancreas, and animal studies have asked whether nicotine's action on immune-cell nicotinic receptors changes that attack. This page collects the published research on nicotine and type 1 diabetes and the pancreatic islets, each paper summarised in plain language with its PubMed record.

This collection is research only: papers found on PubMed, each described as its own abstract reports it. Cell and animal results are labelled as such, and harms are listed beside benefits. It is not medical advice.

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The Papers (11)

Newest first. Study types on this page — Human observational study: 1 · Review: 1 · Animal study: 8 · Cell study: 1. Each summary is written from the paper’s own abstract; follow the PubMed link for the full record.

Joint effect of nicotine use and diabetes distress on glycemic control in young adults with type 1 diabetes

Human observational study, 2025. This study looked at 388 young adults with type 1 diabetes whose blood sugar was above the target range, using a national cross-sectional analysis of data from a clinical trial. Vaping was the most common way they used nicotine. People who used a lot of nicotine and also had more diabetes-related distress had worse blood sugar control on objective measures. The authors note that nicotine inhibits glucose metabolism.

Plaitano EG, Stanger C (2025). Joint effect of nicotine use and diabetes distress on glycemic control in young adults with type 1 diabetes. J Diabetes Complications. — PubMed PMID: 40398346 · doi:10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2025.109083

Nicotinic Signaling Stimulates Glucagon Secretion in Mouse and Human Pancreatic α-Cells

Animal study, 2025. Researchers looked at how nicotine acts on hormone-making cells in the pancreas, using pancreatic islets taken from mice and from human donors and studied in the lab. Nicotine quickly raised calcium levels in alpha cells, which make the hormone glucagon, but not in the insulin-making beta cells. The calcium rise was 2.8-fold and appeared in more than 70% of alpha cells, and in mouse islets glucagon release went up 2.5-fold. The authors conclude that steady nicotine stimulation is likely to lower insulin sensitivity by increasing glucagon release.

Hamilton A, Zhang Q, Gao R et al. (2025). Nicotinic Signaling Stimulates Glucagon Secretion in Mouse and Human Pancreatic α-Cells. Diabetes. — PubMed PMID: 39475504 · doi:10.2337/db23-0809

Prenatal nicotine exposure leads to decreased histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation and increased p66shc expression in the neonatal pancreas

Animal study, 2022. Researchers gave nicotine to pregnant rats and studied the pancreas of their newborn pups, and also treated rat pancreatic insulin-producing (beta) cells grown in the lab with nicotine. Nicotine raised levels of p66shc, a protein that promotes oxidative stress and is linked to the death of beta cells, both in the pups' pancreas and in the lab-grown cells. This rise came with chemical changes to the proteins that package DNA (less histone H3 lysine 9 methylation), along with more of an enzyme that removes these marks and less of an enzyme that adds them. The authors suggest these changes may help explain the harm to pancreatic function seen after nicotine exposure before birth; the findings are only in rats and cells.

Raez-Villanueva S, Debnath A, Hardy DB et al. (2022). Prenatal nicotine exposure leads to decreased histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation and increased p66shc expression in the neonatal pancreas. J Dev Orig Health Dis. — PubMed PMID: 34047687 · doi:10.1017/S2040174421000283

Pancreatic steatosis in adult rats induced by nicotine exposure during breastfeeding

Animal study, 2021. This study used rats only. Nursing mother rats got nicotine (6 mg/kg) or salt water from a small implanted pump between days 2 and 16 after giving birth, so their pups were exposed to nicotine through the milk. When the offspring were adults, both males and females handled sugar poorly in a glucose tolerance test and had more fat deposited in the pancreas. Exposed males had high insulin levels, exposed females had high blood sugar, and both sexes showed weaker insulin signaling in muscle, which the authors say raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Pietrobon CB, Lisboa PC, Bertasso IM et al. (2021). Pancreatic steatosis in adult rats induced by nicotine exposure during breastfeeding. Endocrine. — PubMed PMID: 33420949 · doi:10.1007/s12020-020-02579-9

Nicotine triggers islet β cell senescence to facilitate the progression of type 2 diabetes

Animal study, 2020. This study tested whether nicotine damages the insulin-making beta cells of the pancreas by pushing them into early aging (senescence). In mouse and rat beta cells grown in the lab, nicotine at 100 and 500 μM caused signs of early aging, raised calcium and reactive oxygen species inside the cells, and these effects were reduced when nicotinic receptors, calcium or reactive oxygen species were blocked. In mice with a high-fat model of type 2 diabetes, nicotine at 100 and 200 μg/mL in drinking water for 28 days made blood sugar control worse and increased beta-cell aging. These results come only from cells and mice, not people.

Sun L, Wang X, Gu T et al. (2020). Nicotine triggers islet β cell senescence to facilitate the progression of type 2 diabetes. Toxicology. — PubMed PMID: 32473187 · doi:10.1016/j.tox.2020.152502

Attenuated Tregs increase susceptibility to type 1 diabetes in prenatal nicotine exposed female offspring mice

Animal study, 2019. This study in mice looked at whether nicotine given to mothers during pregnancy raises the risk of type 1 diabetes in their female offspring. Compared with controls, the exposed offspring weighed less and had higher blood sugar from day 21 to day 42 after birth. By day 42 they also had raised levels of an autoantibody used to detect type 1 diabetes, along with smaller insulin-producing islet areas and fewer beta cells in the pancreas. They also had fewer regulatory T cells, a type of immune cell that helps prevent the immune system from attacking the body, and the authors suggest this drop may explain the diabetes-like changes. These findings come only from mice.

Zhao WH, Wen X, Qu W et al. (2019). Attenuated Tregs increase susceptibility to type 1 diabetes in prenatal nicotine exposed female offspring mice. Toxicol Lett. — PubMed PMID: 31442585 · doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2019.08.016

Targeting mitochondria with folic acid and vitamin B12 ameliorates nicotine mediated islet cell dysfunction

Cell study, 2018. This laboratory study looked at how nicotine affects islet cells, the insulin-making cells of the pancreas, and in particular their mitochondria, the parts of the cell that produce energy. Nicotine raised calcium levels inside the cells and lowered the activity of several mitochondrial enzymes. It also increased harmful reactive oxygen molecules, reduced the cells' antioxidant defenses and pushed the cells toward programmed cell death. Adding folic acid and vitamin B12 appeared to blunt these changes. The abstract does not say whether the cells came from animals, and the work was not done in people.

Bhattacharjee A, Prasad SK, Banerjee O et al. (2018). Targeting mitochondria with folic acid and vitamin B12 ameliorates nicotine mediated islet cell dysfunction. Environ Toxicol. — PubMed PMID: 29972271 · doi:10.1002/tox.22586

Nicotine and autoimmunity: The lotus' flower in tobacco

Review, 2018. This review gathers earlier research on how nicotine affects the immune system in autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, Behçet's disease and inflammatory bowel diseases. The authors say the findings conflict. Some studies suggest nicotine increases inflammatory signals and makes a type of white blood cell (neutrophils) die and release their contents, which the immune system can then attack as if they were foreign. Other studies suggest nicotine calms inflammation, mainly by binding to the alpha-7 nicotinic receptor, which can increase regulatory T cells and lower inflammatory signals; the authors name addiction and the side effects of each nicotine product sold as the main problems with nicotine.

Gomes JP, Watad A, Shoenfeld Y (2018). Nicotine and autoimmunity: The lotus' flower in tobacco. Pharmacol Res. — PubMed PMID: 29051105 · doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2017.10.005

Ameliorative effect of nicotine exposure on insulin resistance is accompanied by decreased cardiac glycogen synthase kinase-3 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 during oral oestrogen-progestin therapy

Animal study, 2018. This study used female rats to test how nicotine, given by mouth at a low dose (0.1 mg/kg) or a high dose (1.0 mg/kg) every day for 8 weeks, interacts with a combined oestrogen-progestin birth-control pill. In rats given only the pill, or only nicotine, the researchers found insulin resistance, poor blood sugar control, harmful blood fat changes, and higher levels of the stress hormones corticosterone and aldosterone. They also found higher levels of two proteins linked to heart and blood-vessel problems, GSK-3 and PAI-1, both in the heart and in the blood. In rats given the pill and nicotine together, most of these changes were reduced, but the rise in corticosterone and aldosterone was not; these results come from rats only.

Michael OS, Olatunji LA (2018). Ameliorative effect of nicotine exposure on insulin resistance is accompanied by decreased cardiac glycogen synthase kinase-3 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 during oral oestrogen-progestin therapy. Arch Physiol Biochem. — PubMed PMID: 28868937 · doi:10.1080/13813455.2017.1369549

Both nicotine reward and withdrawal are enhanced in a rodent model of diabetes

Animal study, 2017. Researchers tested whether diabetes changes how rats respond to nicotine. Diabetes was created in the rats with a drug that destroys the insulin-making cells of the pancreas, and the rats were compared with normal rats. The diabetic rats found nicotine more rewarding. When nicotine was withdrawn, they also showed stronger unpleasant effects, more physical withdrawal signs and more anxiety-like behavior. These results come only from rats; the authors suggest that people with metabolic disorders such as diabetes may feel nicotine's effects more strongly, which could encourage tobacco use.

Pipkin JA, Cruz B, Flores RJ et al. (2017). Both nicotine reward and withdrawal are enhanced in a rodent model of diabetes. Psychopharmacology (Berl). — PubMed PMID: 28342091 · doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4592-y

Nicotine reduces the incidence of type I diabetes in mice

Animal study, 2002. Researchers gave nicotine to mice in two laboratory models of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system destroys the insulin-making cells of the pancreas. In both models, mice treated with nicotine had lower blood sugar, developed diabetes less often, and kept more insulin in the pancreas. Nicotine also stopped the rise in inflammatory immune signals (IL-12, IL-1, TNF-alpha and interferon-gamma) seen in the pancreas with diabetes, and it raised calming immune signals (IL-4 and IL-10). These results come from mice only and have not been shown in people.

Mabley JG, Pacher P, Southan GJ et al. (2002). Nicotine reduces the incidence of type I diabetes in mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. — PubMed PMID: 11861793 · doi:10.1124/jpet.300.3.876

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