Menthol cigarettes linked to increased smoking among teens

Teens who use menthol cigarettes smoke more cigarettes per day than their peers who smoke non-menthols, says a new study. The findings from the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo mark the first time that menthol cigarettes have been directly linked to elevated nicotine addiction among youth in Canada.

“The appeal of menthol cigarettes among youth stems from the perception that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. The minty taste helps mask the noxious properties, but the reality is that they are just as dangerous as any unflavoured cigarette,” said Sunday Azagba, a scientist at Propel and lead author on the paper.

Published in Cancer Causes and Control, the study found that menthol users smoked an average of 43 cigarettes a week, close to double the 26 smoked by non-menthol users. The study also found that menthol smokers were almost three times more likely to report that they intend to continue smoking in the next year.

Despite the well-documented health risks associated with tobacco use, almost one in 10 Canadian high school students from Grades 10 to 12 are current smokers.

Research shows that the majority of long-term adult smokers start smoking during their adolescence. The national Youth Smoking Survey has found that 32 per cent of smokers in high school smoke menthols.

“There is a growing concern that the high popularity of menthol cigarettes among youth may hinder the recent progress in preventing other young people from smoking because many of them may experiment with menthol rather than unflavoured brands,” said Azagba.

Menthol Cigarette Use Rising Among Young Smokers A growing number of young adults in the United States are smoking menthol cigarettes, a large new study finds.

Public-health efforts to curb smoking are being hindered by the marketing of mentholated cigarette brands to children as young as 12, according to the researchers, who said kids often mistakenly believe mentholated cigarettes are safer to smoke because they are easier to inhale, particularly for beginners.

"Simply stated, menthol sweetens the poison, making it easier to smoke," said lead researcher Gary Giovino, chairman of the department of community health and health behaviors of the University at Buffalo, in a school news release. "Our findings indicate that youth are heavy consumers of mentholated cigarettes, and that overall menthol cigarette smoking has either remained constant or increased in all three age groups we studied, while non-menthol smoking has decreased."

Using information compiled on 390,000 people aged 12 and up who participated in national surveys on drug use and health, the researchers estimated menthol and non-menthol cigarette use from 2004 to 2010.

The study found that among 84,000 smokers, menthol cigarette use was most common among young people from 12 to 17 years old, at nearly 57 percent. Of smokers 18 to 25 years old, 45 percent smoked mentholated cigarettes. Meanwhile, 30.5 percent to 33 percent of smokers older than 25 also smoked menthol cigarettes.