Mentholated ciggies ‘no more harmful than regular ones’
March 24th, 2011 - 2:22 pm ICT by ANIWashington, March 24 (ANI): A new study has shown that smokers of mentholated cigarettes are no more likely to develop lung cancer than other smokers.
In fact, contrary to a popular hypothesis, menthol smokers in this study had a somewhat lower risk of developing and dying from lung cancer than non-menthol smokers.
Lung cancer rates are higher among blacks than whites, and use of mentholated cigarettes, also higher among blacks, has been suggested as a possible explanation.
To explore these issues, William J. Blot, of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn., and the International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, and colleagues conducted a prospective study among 85,806 people enrolled in the Southern Community Cohort Study, an ongoing multiracial study in 12 southern states. Within this cohort, they identified 440 lung cancer patients and compared them with 2,213 matched controls (other people in the study with the same demographics, such as race, age, and sex, but without lung cancer).
They found that menthol cigarettes were associated with a lower lung cancer incidence and fewer lung cancer deaths than regular cigarettes. For instance among people smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day, menthol smokers were about 12 times more likely to have lung cancer than never-smokers while non-menthol smokers were about 21 times more likely to have the disease. The differences were statistically significant.
The authors conclude that mentholated cigarettes are no more, and perhaps less, harmful than non-mentholated cigarettes.
The study has been published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. (ANI)
- Giving up menthol ciggies may be harder for some smokers - Dec 21, 2010
- Menthol cigarettes more addictive - Jan 10, 2009
- Smokers '7 times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers' - Dec 16, 2010
- Brain imaging demonstrates that former smokers have greater willpower - Apr 27, 2011
- Too high or too low a BMI influences risk of death among Asians - Feb 24, 2011
- TB patients 'more prone to lung cancer' - Jan 03, 2011
- Former heavy smokers are at an increased risk of heart failure: Study - Nov 15, 2010
- Tobacco firm underplayed dangers of smoking - Jan 09, 2012
- Cheap, fast test identifies aggressive type of lung cancer in never-smokers - Feb 26, 2011
- 'Silver', 'gold' and 'slim' cigarettes misleading many smokers - Apr 13, 2011
- TB patients at a higher risk for lung cancer: Study - Jan 01, 2011
- Like your morning cigarette? You're at greater risk! - Aug 08, 2011
- Blood test could identify lung cancer patients likely to respond to drug erlotinib - May 01, 2010
- Following cancer prevention guidelines lower risk of death from all-causes - Apr 16, 2011
- Body weight influences death risk among Asians: Study - Mar 05, 2011
Tags: cancer center, contrary, demographics, epidemiology, hypothesis, ingram, journal of the national cancer institute, lung cancer, lung cancer deaths, lung cancer incidence, lung cancer patients, lung cancer rates, menthol cigarettes, mentholated cigarettes, nashville tenn, national cancer institute, prospective study, smokers lung, southern states, vanderbilt