Sweden's public health authority just warned pregnant women to avoid nicotine pouches — a direct response to the product category's explosive growth among young women.

Folkhälsomyndigheten (the Swedish Public Health Agency) issued the warning after daily nicotine pouch use among women aged 16-29 jumped from 3% to nearly 18% between 2018 and 2024, per Sveriges Radio Ekot's reporting. That's one in five young women now using daily.

The concern: nicotine pouches are being marketed as safer alternatives to smoking, but the agency says there's zero research backing that claim for pregnancy — and known risks that nicotine can harm both mother and fetus.

What the data shows

While overall pregnancy use remains low, regional patterns are emerging. In Jämtland county, where pouch use is common before pregnancy:

• Nearly 5% of women were using nicotine pouches at pregnancy registration
• 2.5% continued using through week 32 of pregnancy

Those figures come from Sweden's Graviditetsregistret (Pregnancy Register), which tracks substance use during pregnancy.

The industry messaging problem

Ekot's investigation "Nikotinkriget" (The Nicotine War) found that multiple organizations with tobacco industry ties are promoting nicotine pouches as effective smoking cessation tools.

Folkhälsomyndigheten's position: that research doesn't exist.

"It is well-known that nicotine can have a harmful impact on the fetus in pregnant women," Josefin Päiviö Jonsson, division head at Folkhälsomyndigheten, told Ekot.

Why this matters

Sweden's nicotine pouch market is the most mature in Europe — what happens here often previews trends elsewhere. The shift from a male-dominated user base to nearly 20% daily use among young women represents a demographic transformation happening faster than regulatory or public health responses.

The agency's warning signals growing concern that harm reduction messaging around pouches may be reaching populations (young women of childbearing age) without adequate safety data for pregnancy scenarios.

What's next

Sweden still allows nicotine pouches while most EU countries ban them. This warning doesn't change that legal status, but it marks the first major public health campaign targeting a specific user demographic.

Expect other Nordic countries watching Sweden's data closely — particularly Norway and Denmark, where similar usage patterns among young women are emerging.

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SOURCES:

• Expressen: "Myndigheten varnar gravida kvinnor för vitt snus" (https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/sverige/myndigheten-varnar-gravida-kvinnor-for-vitt-snus/)
• Sveriges Radio Ekot investigation "Nikotinkriget"
• Swedish Pregnancy Register (Graviditetsregistret) 2024 data