Mint cigarette: easier to begin with, more difficult to leave

the pulmonologists recommended the exclusion of the menthol as an additive in cigarettes to avoid its harmful effects

-menthol increases the number of extra-thin particles in the smoke of tobacco with a higher risk for the health.

-smokers of menthol cigarettes are more addicts than not menthol smokers

– Softness and freshness of menthol cigarettes provide the home the habit.

Spain, 2011-September The prevention magazine of the smoking of the Spanish society for Pneumology and thoracic surgery has published an editorial prepared by a group of respiratory experts in smoking which, based on the review of the existing scientific literature, analyzes the characteristics of menthol cigarettes. The article concludes that far from the popular image driven by advertising for tobacco companies that menthol cigarettes was the least bad ” for health, the reality is that due to its characteristics it favors the home CHD habit, creates greater dependence and hinders the abandonment, so the pulmonologists demand the authorities to investigate the prohibition of the use of the menthol as an additive in cigarettes.

Menthol is a secondary alcohol found in the oils of peppermint. The main reason for mixing it with tobacco is using sensory effects of Mint to mask the negative effects of the roughness, hardness (irritability) tobacco smoke and superimpose their positive qualities. On the one hand, thanks to stimulate cold receptors, it gives the feeling of a fresh and deep breathing, and on the other hand, its local analgesic effect softens the effect of smoking. This is the reason why Mint smoking favors uptake and retention of young people and adolescents to tobacco.

A study of Hersey 2006 et to the showed that menthol cigarette consumption is significantly more common in middle school students and that adolescents who began to smoke were higher percentage with menthol cigarettes compared with non-menthol. Menthol is added in part because it is known that he has an attractive feature for inexperienced smokers or those who reject the roughness of the tobacco and menthol cigarettes more easy ” smoking ” explains to Dr. Sigismund Solano, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón pulmonologist and member of the SEPAR.

Another known effect of menthol is its ability to nicóticos recipients desensibilizadora is greater than the nicotine itself and the recovery of this desensitization is slower. The research carried out in recent years by teams of neurologists as Ahijevych K et to the. Je Muscat et to the. they establish not only are addicted to nicotine but also to the impact and perceptions of menthol smokers of menthol. An example is the time passed until the first cigarette in the morning of smokers with menthol is shorter than normal cigarettes smokers, which is indicative of greater addiction ” points Dr. Solano.

Perhaps because it increases the level of addiction, menthol cigarette smokers have low percentages of cessation and high relapse because the effect nicotine reward joined also the reward associated with menthol: freshness and softness. Dr Solano also emphasizes the study of Pletcher. It was the first to find significant number of relapses and the greatest difficulty increases to quit but also noted that the effects on health are very similar between menthol and not menthol cigarettes. This is important to note because he has often wanted to relate the cigarette Mint with the benefits associated with remedies medicinal with menthol as balsams, liniments or throat tablets, and presented to the cigarette Mint as a healthy and safe with no Mint cigarette alternative, but it is shown that this idea is completely false and smoking is harmful to health ” explains Dr. Solano.

After this study, concludes Dr. Solano seems demonstrated that menthol increases damage in smokers because it facilitates the initiation, reinforces the dependence and reduces the success of the processes of abandonment ”. Complex interactions with the addictive effects of nicotine has also been noted. For example, some evidence suggests that adding menthol power damage to increase the number of extra-thin particles in the tobacco smoke which implies higher risk of myocardial infarction. Therefore, the authors pose competent authorities should assess the exclusion of the menthol as an additive in cigarettes.