Mentholated cigarettes decrease puff volume of smoke and increase carbon monoxide absorption

doi:10.1016/0031-9384(94)90302-6

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 56, Issue 3, September 1994, Pages 563-570

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(94)90302-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

The influence of mentholated vs. regular cigarettes on selected chemical and topographic parameters was measured in 20 smokers in a pulmonary function laboratory. Half the subjects were black and half were white; half were menthol and half regular smokers. All subjects smoked both types of cigarettes, one on each of 2 days. Compared to regular cigarettes, mentholated cigarettes produced a significantly greater boost in carbon monoxide measured as both blood carboxyhemoglobin and end-expired carbon monoxide, despite the fact that mentholated cigarettes decreased average and total cumulative puff volumes and increased mean puff flow rates of inhaled smoke. These chemical and topographic differences were independent of race. No significant differences in depth of inhalation of the smoke or in the amount of insoluble smoke particulates delivered to or retained in the respiratory tract were noted between the two types of cigarettes. Mentholation of cigarettes may decrease volume of smoke inhaled but appears to increase exposure of smokers to toxic effects of carbon monoxide.

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Cited by (80)

Differences between adult sexual minority females and heterosexual females on menthol smoking and other smoking behaviors: Findings from Wave 4 (2016–2018) of the population assessment of tobacco and health study
2022, Addictive Behaviors
Sexual minority females have higher rates of cigarette smoking than heterosexual females. Additionally, menthol cigarette use disproportionately impacts minority smokers, including sexual minority individuals. This study examined differences between sexual minority and heterosexual females on several smoking variables, including initiation with a menthol cigarette, and past 30-day cigarette and menthol cigarette use.
Participants were female ever smokers (N = 11,576; n = 1,474, 12.7% sexual minority) who completed Wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Survey. Participants reported on the age they began smoking regularly (≤18 years old, 18–24, >25), whether they initiated with a menthol cigarette, past 30-day cigarette smoking and menthol cigarette use, cigarettes smoked per day (≤10, 11–20, >20), cigarette dependence (smoke ≤ 5 min of waking or > 5 min of waking), and whether they were a current (someday/every day) or former (no past year/current use) established smoker (≥100 lifetime cigarettes), or an experimental smoker (<100 lifetime cigarettes). Chi-square and multivariable logistic regression analyses examined differences between sexual minority females and heterosexual females on smoking variables.
Sexual minority female smokers began smoking regularly at an earlier age and smoked fewer cigarettes per day than heterosexual females. Sexual minority females were more likely to initiate smoking with a menthol cigarette (aOR = 1.27), report past 30-day smoking (aOR = 1.36) and menthol cigarette use (aOR = 1.24) compared to heterosexual females. There were no differences on cigarette dependence.
Given the high rates of initiation and current menthol smoking, policies to regulate menthol may decrease smoking disparities for sexual minority females.
Racial disparities in intensity of smoke exposure and nicotine intake among low-dependence smokers
2021, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Compared to white smokers, Black smokers are at disproportionately higher risk for smoking-related disease, despite consuming fewer cigarettes per day (CPD). To examine racial disparities in biobehavioral influences on smoking and disease risk, we analyzed the relationship between self-reported tobacco dependence and intensity of tobacco smoke exposure per cigarette, on the one hand, and intensity of nicotine intake per cigarette, on the other.
In 270 Black and 516 white smokers, smoke exposure was measured by expired carbon monoxide (CO), and nicotine intake was measured by plasma cotinine (COT) and cotinine+3′-hydroxycotinine ([COT + 3HC]). Using linear regression analyses, we analyzed how the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence (FTCD) predicted intensity of smoke exposure per cigarette (CO/CPD) and intensity of nicotine intake per cigarette (COT/CPD; [COT + 3HC]/CPD), and how race moderated these relations.
Overall, Black smokers consumed fewer CPD than white smokers and had higher levels of CO/CPD, COT/CPD, and [COT + 3HC]/CPD. These elevations were most pronounced at lower levels of dependence: amongst Black smokers, FTCD negatively predicted intensity of smoke exposure as measured by CO/CPD (B = −0.12, 95% CI = −0.18, −0.05, p = 0.0003) and intensity of nicotine intake as measured by [COT + 3HC]/CPD (B = −1.31, 95% CI = −2.15, −0.46, p = 0.002).
Low-dependence Black smokers had higher intensities of both smoke exposure and nicotine intake per cigarette compared to similarly dependent white smokers, suggesting that measures of dependence, exposure, and intake underestimate incremental risk of each cigarette to Black smokers.
Custom mentholation of commercial cigarettes for research purposes
2014, Toxicology Reports
Citation Excerpt :
Laboratory-based studies have also yielded mixed results because of compliance issues that require established menthol or nonmenthol cigarette smokers to use the opposite cigarette style for the extended periods necessary to compare classic measures of toxicity [7]. For example, when comparing biomarkers of exposure between menthol and nonmenthol smokers (e.g., cotinine, carbon monoxide [CO]), some studies showed decreased levels, some increased, and some no difference [4,17–23]. The reason for this may be that commercial cigarettes are so highly engineered that there are many significant differences between menthol and nonmenthol cigarettes other than menthol levels.
In the U.S. menthol remains the sole permitted characterizing cigarette flavor additive in part because efforts to link menthol cigarette use to increased tobacco-related disease risk have been inconclusive. To perform definitive studies, cigarettes that differ only in menthol content are required, yet these are not commercially available. We prepared research cigarettes differing only in menthol content by deposition of l-menthol vapor directly onto commercial nonmenthol cigarettes, and developed a method to measure a cigarette's menthol and nicotine content. With our custom-mentholation technique we achieved the desired moderately high menthol content (as compared to commercial brands) of 6.7 ± 1.0 mg/g (n = 25) without perturbing the cigarettes’ nicotine content (17.7 ± 0.7 mg/g [n = 25]). We also characterized other pertinent attributes of our custom-mentholated cigarettes, including percent transmission of menthol and nicotine to mainstream smoke and the rate of loss of menthol over time during storage at room temperature. We are currently using this simple mentholation technique to investigate the differences in human exposure to selected chemicals in cigarette smoke due only to the presence of the added menthol. Our cigarettes will also aid in the elucidation of the effects of menthol on the toxicity of tobacco smoke.
Lack of effect of menthol level and type on smokers' estimated mouth level exposures to tar and nicotine and perceived sensory characteristics of cigarette smoke
2012, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
Menthol can reduce sensory irritation and it has been hypothesised that this could result in smokers of mentholated cigarettes taking larger puffs and deeper post-puff inhalations thereby obtaining higher exposures to smoke constituents than smokers of non-mentholated cigarettes. The aim of our study was to use part-filter analysis methodology to assess the effects of cigarette menthol loading on regular and occasional smokers of mentholated cigarettes. We measured mouth level exposure to tar and nicotine and investigated the effects of mentholation on smokers’ sensory perceptions such as cooling and irritation. Test cigarettes were produced containing no menthol and different loadings of synthetic and natural l-menthol at 1 and 4 mg ISO tar yields. A target of 100 smokers of menthol cigarettes and 100 smokers who predominantly smoked non-menthol cigarettes from both 1 and 4 mg ISO tar yield categories were recruited in Poland and Japan. Each subject was required to smoke the test cigarette types of their usual ISO tar yield. There were positive relationships between menthol loading and the perceived ‘strength of menthol taste’ and ‘cooling’ effect. However, we did not see marked menthol-induced reductions in perceived irritation or menthol-induced increases in mouth level exposure to tar and nicotine.
Targeting anti-smoking messages: Does audience race matter?
2012, Addictive Behaviors
Citation Excerpt :
Indeed, this strategy seems to have been successful as evidenced by higher purchase rates of cigarette brands (e.g., menthol cigarettes), which were advertised prominently in urban and minority neighborhoods (Alpert, Koh, & Connolly, 2008; HHS, 1989a, 1989b; National Cancer Institute, 2008). While studies of the mechanism behind the relationship between mentholated cigarette use and tobacco related diseases among African Americans is not conclusive (e.g., Siahpush, Singh, Jones, & Timsina, 2010), studies suggest increased use of such cigarettes contributes to increased rates of tobacco-related disease among African Americans in particular (Gallogly, 2007; Jarvik, Tashkin, Caskey, McCarthy, & Rosenblatt, 1994). Given that targeted cigarette advertising appears to have been so effective at increasing smoking in minority populations, it is surprising that so little work has been completed that examines targeting anti-smoking messages to different racial and ethnic groups in order to enhance their effectiveness in those populations.
This study examined whether an adolescent's self-identified race moderates the perceived effectiveness of anti-smoking messages. A sample of 94 never smoking adolescents (59% African-American; 41% European-American) participated in this two-part study. First, they rated the persuasive strength of a series of five decontextualized anti-smoking messages (i.e., messages delivered in text format). Second, they were exposed to five sets of anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs; viewed as TV advertisements) that had embedded in them the five anti-smoking messages used in the first part of the study and rated their smoking refusal self-efficacy after each one. Although race moderated participants' ratings of the decontextualized messages, there were no significant moderating effects of race when those messages were embedded in PSAs. The results of this study support the notion that anti-smoking PSAs should not be targeted to adolescent racial background, but suggests that decontextualized anti-smoking messages may be more effective if targeted to adolescent race.
A survey of mouth level exposure to cigarette smoke in the United States
2011, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
Citation Excerpt :
No significant difference between menthol and non-mentholated cigarettes was reported in four of the studies (Caskey et al., 1993; Miller et al., 1994; Ahijevych et al., 1996; Pickworth et al., 2002). A significantly reduced puff number was associated with mentholated products in three of the studies (Nil and Battig, 1989; Jarvik et al., 1994; McCarthy et al., 1995). Puff volumes were reported in six studies.
Smoke yields determined by a machine-based smoking method cannot adequately predict exposures experienced by human smokers. In this work, a filter analysis technique which addresses this fundamental limitation was used to measure mouth level exposures (MLE) to tar and nicotine in 1330 smokers of 26 brand-styles of US cigarettes covering a wide range of machine-generated yields.
Despite the high degree of variability observed among individual smokers, MLEs were significantly correlated with machine-derived tar and nicotine yields (r = 0.423 for nicotine MLE/cigarette; r = 0.493 for tar MLE/cigarette; p < 0.001 for both). Mean tar and nicotine MLE was higher for males than for females. Mean MLE across races was generally similar. Menthol cigarettes tended toward lower MLE than non-menthol cigarettes and King-Size cigarettes (∼83 mm) tended toward lower MLE than 100’s cigarettes (∼100 mm), though those trends were not statistically significant.
There were good agreements between MLEs measured in a group of 159 subjects smoking their usual cigarette brand-style on two separate occasions and between two independent groups of subjects smoking the same brand-styles. The results indicated that the filter analysis method used had sufficient precision to show similarity among groups.

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ArticleMentholated cigarettes decrease puff volume of smoke and increase carbon monoxide absorption

Abstract

Physiol Behav.

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

Chest

Prev. Med.

Standardization of spirometry—1987 update

Am. Rev. Respir. Dis.

Socioeconomic factors and cancer incidence among blacks and whites

J. Natl. Cancer Inst.

Cigarette advertising and black-white differences in brand preference

Public Health Rep.

The effects of D and L isomers of menthol upon nasal sensation of airflow

J. Laryngol. Otol.

The effects of menthol on reaction time and nasal sensation of airflow in subjects suffering from the common cold

Clin. Otolaryngol.

Measuring nicotine dependence in tobacco smoking: A review of the Fagerstrom tolerance questionnaire

J. Behav. Med.