Smokers who received daily text messages offering advice and encouragement as they attempted to quit smoking were twice as likely to succeed as others trying to quit, according to a new study conducted in New Zealand, Great Britain and Norway.

Reuters reported Oct. 8 that four trials involving 2,600 smokers also gave smokers the option of texting for advice when they were struggling with a specific aspect of quitting, such as craving cigarettes.

Most of the subjects did not succeed in quitting, but the success rate after six weeks was doubled among the text-message group. A program in Norway that used a combination of texting, e-mail and a website achieved similar abstinence rates after one year.

The research appears in the Cochrane Library.