Chronic Intake of Separate and Combined Alcohol and Nicotine on Body Maintenance Among Albino Rats

Using 20 male rats that were housed in four groups of five rats each, the separate and combined effects of alcohol and nicotine was experimentally tested on body maintenance behaviour of food and water intake of rats. It was observed that while alcohol reduced food intake, nicotine rather increased food intake. However, there was a great reduction of food intake with the combined administration of the two drugs. On the other hand, alcohol intake facilitated increase of water intake as a result of its dehydration effect, whereas nicotine reduced the level of water intake. The combined administration of the two drugs further reduced water intake. The health and policy implications of these findings were discussed.