Menthol Cigarettes

Cigarettes can be harder to quit than the standard variety, especially in low-income smokers, new research suggests.

The results add to evidence that mentholated cigarettes may be especially addictive, but dwell on the role of socioeconomics as researchers say.

They found that black and Hispanic smokers who favored menthol cigarettes were less than the long-term quit rates than their counterparts who smoked cigarettes standard. There was no such difference among white smokers in general, but there was a pattern of unemployed whites: those who smoked menthol cigarettes had lower rates of exit for a month.

Previous studies have found that menthol-cigarette smokers tend to have higher blood levels of nicotine than other smokers to do.

“This study shows that people who smoke cigarettes mentholated - especially low-income countries - may inhale more nicotine and toxins in cigarettes,” lead researcher Kunal K. Gandhi, told Reuters Health.

This, in turn, could lead to a more severe addiction, explained Gandhi, a researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Revenue may enter into the picture, Gandhi and his colleagues say, changing the way people smoke. Since low-income smokers may try to get more out of every smoke break, taking over clubs for a cigarette or inhaling more deeply.

Menthol makes it easier because it allows the cooling effect to mask the harshness of nicotine and other tobacco toxins.