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Vanilla and coconut scents may disrupt cigarette cravings, brain study hints

NCT ID NCT04902469

Symptom relief Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed This study
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Jul 02, 2026 · Last updated Jul 14, 2026 · Updated 2 times

Summary

This study investigates whether sniffing pleasant odors like vanilla, coconut, or chocolate can reduce cigarette cravings. Researchers will use brain scans (fMRI) and behavioral tests to see how these smells affect craving-related brain activity in daily and nondaily smokers aged 18-49. Participants are randomly assigned to receive either a pleasant odor or a neutral blank odor during craving triggers. The goal is to understand if pleasant scents can disrupt the brain's craving state and lower the urge to smoke.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
pleasant odors (e.g., vanilla, coconut, chocolate)
What this could lead to
If it works, this could point toward a simple, drug-free way to help smokers manage cravings and potentially quit.
What could go wrong
This is an early-stage study focused on brain and behavioral responses, not a proven treatment. Results may not translate to real-world quitting success.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Phase

Not a phased trial

Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.

Participants

232 people

The number who actually took part.

Started

Dec 2021

Finished

Jun 2026

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Ages

18 to 49 years

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Aged 18-49 * Right-handed * Fluent in English * Intact sense of smell * Pass an MRI safety screening and along these lines will need to be 250lbs or less to safely enter the MRI * No drug dependence outside of nicotine or caffeine * Must fit into one of two categories of smokers, daily or nondaily, as confirmed by verbal self-report and a baseline CO reading; Daily smokers: must smoke 10-30 cigarettes per day for at least 12 months, Nondaily smokers: must smoke for 1-14 days of the last 30 days with no more than 20 cigarettes a day * Need to have access to a working smartphone to complete the ecological momentary assessment portion of the study Exclusion Criteria: * Medical conditions that contraindicate nicotine use * Not fluent in English * Illiterate * Current neurological or psychotic disorders * Current psychoactive drug use * MRI contraindications such as stroke history, pregnancy, metal in the body, history of aneurysms, or serious head injury * Individuals will also be excluded if they report any allergies to the odors used in our study. * Baseline CO readings will need to be consistent with our criteria for daily and nondaily smokers for participants to be considered eligible. Specifically, we plan to rule out extremely heavy smokers (nondeprived CO \> 55, for whom the smoking abstinence requirement may be too extreme to allow a sensitive test of our OC manipulation) and daily smokers with a nondeprived CO reading \<10 PPM as this would raise concerns that they do smoke enough to be classified as a daily smoker.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

Anosmia

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Craving

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • The University of Pittsburgh

    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260, United States

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