How long it takes to remove nicotine from your blood depends on a few factors. This includes your age, how much you smoke and other factors.

You can speed up the process of removing nicotine from your body by drinking plenty of water and increasing your exercise. These measures help flush out waste products from your kidneys and liver.

Half-life

Once nicotine has entered the body, it is broken down into metabolites (breakdown products) by liver enzymes. These metabolites can be found in your blood, urine, saliva, and hair. These metabolites are mainly excreted by your kidneys, with some also leaving the body via feces.

Nicotine is absorbed in many ways, but the most common is through inhalation. This occurs when you smoke cigarettes or cigars, or if you use a pipe or smokeless tobacco. As you inhale, the nicotine molecule travels to your lungs, which provide an enormous surface area. The free base of the nicotine molecule, which contains the most nicotine, gets deposited on tiny particles of tar that coat your lungs’ alveoli and capillaries.

The molecule then travels through the bloodstream, where it crosses the blood-brain barrier and is distributed to various tissues and organs. These include the brain, lungs, heart, and kidneys.

In the brain, nicotine activates receptors that bind to dopamine to produce a feeling of relaxation and euphoria. It also activates a number of other neurotransmitters, including serotonin and norepinephrine.

However, if you consume large quantities of nicotine (for example, a lot of cigarettes) or if you use other forms of tobacco, such as vapes, your body will break down the drug and convert it to another substance called cotinine. Cotinine has a much longer half-life than nicotine, so it will stay in your system for up to three weeks.

How long a person’s body breaks down nicotine depends on several factors, including age and the amount of nicotine used. As you get older, your metabolism slows down, which makes it harder for the body to excrete nicotine.

A person with a long history of smoking will usually have higher levels of nicotine than someone who hasn’t smoked in a while, but the level will vary from individual to individual. If you’ve been using a certain type of tobacco for a long time, such as menthol cigarettes or cigarette smoke that’s been filtered with a chemical that degrades the nicotine, the levels will be higher.

When a smoker stops, the level of nicotine in his or her blood will go down quickly. During the first few days, there may be trace amounts of nicotine in his or her urine and saliva. In most cases, these substances will be gone within one to three days.

Cotinine

The nicotine absorbed from tobacco smoke passes through the capillaries in the lungs and into the bloodstream. Then, liver enzymes break down this nicotine into many metabolites, or breakdown products. The metabolites are then removed from the body in the urine.

The metabolite most commonly found in smokers is cotinine. It is a neuroactive metabolite of nicotine and can be used as a biomarker for exposure to smoking.

Cotinine is a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist. It can cross the blood brain barrier and interact with both nAChRs and non-nAChRs to produce a variety of neuropharmacological effects.

It is also thought to be a reinforcing factor that can enhance self-administration of nicotine. However, it remains to be determined whether cotinine contributes to the development of nicotine use, abuse and addiction.

Because cotinine is a longer-lasting metabolite, it can accumulate in the body for up to several weeks before it is completely eliminated. The length of time that cotinine stays in your system depends on many factors, including your genetic makeup and how much you smoke.

Your cotinine levels may be detected in urine, saliva or blood tests. Testing using saliva or blood is less sensitive than testing using urine samples, so your results may take longer to arrive in the lab.

If you are a nonsmoker, your cotinine levels may be as low as 10 ng/mL. Levels over 100 ng/mL are typically seen in active or heavy smokers – more than 20 cigarettes per day.

Nicotine and its metabolites can also be detected in your hair. Unlike saliva, a hair test can identify cotinine for up to 90 days after ingestion.

You can find a hair test on your doctor’s office or by calling the lab that does this type of testing. The results are usually available within 24 hours to five days.

In the liver, nicotine is metabolized to a range of metabolites, most notably cotinine. The cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6) enzyme breaks down about 70 percent of nicotine into cotinine, as well as to other metabolites. The remaining metabolites are excreted in the urine and in the hair.

Urine

Urine is the liquid waste that the kidneys secrete in order to clean blood. It contains water and dissolved waste products, such as salts, proteins, and ketones. Its composition varies from person to person, depending on the amount and frequency of urination, but it usually is 91 to 96 percent water.

Your urine can be a good indicator of your health, as it can tell you if you have a kidney or urinary tract disorder. Other conditions can also be detected through urine analysis.

In general, your urine is a clear liquid made of about 95 percent water, with the rest containing dissolved waste materials. It is composed of urea and other nitrogenous molecules, as well as traces of creatinine and other metabolites.

When you urinate, your body releases this fluid through the bladder and urethra. You may experience pain or discomfort while urinating, but it is generally not dangerous.

You may need to urinate more frequently when you are trying to remove nicotine from your system, as this is the best way to flush out the drug and reduce withdrawal symptoms. In addition, drinking more water may help.

Your liver metabolizes nicotine into several other substances that eventually leave your body through urine. Among them is cotinine, which can remain in your system for several weeks.

If your doctor orders a test for cotinine, you will be given a strip that is soaked in the urine sample and then tested. The test will return a positive or negative result based on the amount of cotinine in your urine.

The length of time it takes for nicotine to be completely removed from your body depends on several factors. It typically takes about two days for nicotine to be fully eliminated, although it can take longer in people with heavy smoking histories or who are older than 65 years old or have a history of cancer or other illnesses.

However, you can help speed the process along by avoiding certain foods and drugs that contain dyes or by drinking more water, according to research. Eating a variety of healthy foods and taking vitamins that boost your metabolism can also help rid your body of nicotine more quickly.

Saliva

Saliva is a fluid that carries water, mucus, proteins, minerals, enzymes, and antibacterial compounds in the mouth and around the body. It is a vital part of healthy living because it helps with digestion, fights infections in the mouth and elsewhere, and protects teeth.

Saliva comes from salivary glands, which are located in the mouth, cheeks and lips. They are responsible for producing one to two litres of saliva a day.

It is made up of 98 percent water, but it also contains small amounts of other substances that help maintain good oral health. These include proteins, uric acid, electrolytes, and antibacterial compounds.

This saliva helps your mouth feel moist, lubricates as you chew and swallow, neutralizes acids, fights infection in the mouth, defends against tooth decay and gum disease, and speeds up wound healing. Without saliva, you would have a hard time digesting food or cleaning your teeth.

Among its other functions, saliva stimulates taste receptor cells to let you know whether a food is good or bad. It does this by carrying chemicals to the taste buds.

In addition to helping you taste foods, saliva also enables normal breathing and helps with muscle movement. It also keeps your skin moisturized and protected from colds.

The saliva also carries proteins that spark chemical reactions in your body when you eat and drink, which start the digestive process. They help you break down starches, fats and sugars in your mouth.

To help your body flush out nicotine, you can drink more water or other fluids. You can also try spending some time in a sauna, which is a steamy environment that causes you to sweat.

Another good way to remove nicotine is to eat a diet that includes fruits, vegetables and other healthy, antioxidant-rich foods. These will boost your metabolism and help nicotine pass through your system faster.

There are several ways to remove nicotine from your blood or urine, but the quickest way is to stop using tobacco and other nicotine products. However, it can take days or weeks for the nicotine to leave your blood and urine.