Study finds increased menthol cigarette use among young people

A new study on mentholated cigarette use in the U.S. finds an increase in menthol cigarette smoking among young adults and concludes that efforts to reduce smoking likely are being thwarted by the sale and marketing of mentholated cigarettes, including emerging varieties of established youth brands.

“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,” says lead researcher Gary Giovino, PhD, professor and chair of the University at Buffalo Department of Community Health and Health Behaviors.

Giovino, one of the world’s leading tobacco surveillance researchers, estimated menthol and non-menthol cigarette use during 2004-10 using annual data on nearly 390,000 persons 12 years old and older who took part in the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The data included more than 84,000 smokers.

The results, which were published online in the international journal,Tobacco Control, showed that:

Among cigarette smokers, menthol cigarette use was more common among 12-17 year olds (56.7 percent) and 18-25 year olds (45 percent) than among older persons (range 30.5 percent to 34.7 percent)
Menthol use was associated with being younger, female, and of non-white race or ethnicity.
Among all adolescents, the percent who smoked non-menthol cigarettes decreased from 2004-10, while menthol smoking rates remained constant.
Among all young adults, the percent who smoked non-menthol cigarettes also declined, while menthol smoking rates increased.
The use of Camel menthol and Marlboro menthol increased among adolescent and young adult smokers, particularly non-Hispanic whites, during the study period.
“The study results should inform the FDA regarding the potential public health impact of a menthol ban,” Giovino says.

“The FDA is considering banning menthol cigarettes, or other regulatory options,” he says. “This research provides an important view of the trends and patterns of menthol use in the nation as a whole. The FDA will consider these findings and findings from multiple other studies as it goes forward.

In the West, anti-smoking campaigns seem to have stalled. Around 1 in 5 US adults smokes, about the same as 10 years ago. Now those who seek to further reduce the harm from smoking have proposed a new measure: a ban on menthol in cigarettes.

Last week, after months of intense debate, the European Parliament voted for a ban on menthol cigarettes, which will come into force in 2022. Similar moves are afoot in the US, again surrounded by intense debate.

Menthol cigarettes were invented in the 1920s by Lloyd "Spud" Hughes of Mingo Junction, Ohio, who reportedly stored his cigarettes in a tin with menthol crystals that he used to treat a persistent cold. The tobacco absorbed the mint flavour and made the cigarettes easier to smoke. Hughes began selling mentholated cigarettes, and by 1932 his Spud brand was the fifth bestselling cigarette in the country.