Texts 'help smokers to quit habit'

If you want to quit smoking, your mobile phone could hold the key, scientists said today.

A trial using text messages to remind people not to smoke was found to double their chances of success.

"There's something about text messaging that seems to get through to young people, who are usually impervious to anti-smoking messages," said Simon Chapman of Australia's University of Sydney. He edits the journal Tobacco Control, which is to publish the research.

About 450 children take up smoking every day in Britain, according to anti-smoking group Ash, which claims 70 per cent of smokers want to quit.

Experts say the research shows young people can be distracted by text messages. In a New Zealand study, 850 wouldbe quitters with an average age of 25 received several texts daily for six months, such as: "Write down 4 people who will get a kick outta u kicking butt. Your mum, dad, m8s?"

Six weeks after their designated day for giving up smoking, 28 per cent claimed to have quit, compared with 13 per cent of a control group. Using saliva tests, researchers found roughly half of those who claimed to have given up had actually done so.