Specifically, the sensation from menthol, in combination with the nicotine in tobacco, desensitizes receptors in the airways that are responsible for sensing nicotine irritation, according to a study published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology.
Researchers at Georgetown University discovered that the menthol used in cigarettes acts as a painkiller on the nerves that transmit the effects of cigarette smoke to the brain. This irritation is what causes smokers to cough.
It is also a contributor to emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder COPD , and cancer. The new research out of Georgetown shows that menthol has an important pharmacologic effect on smokers. These receptors occur all over the central nervous system and help transmit nicotine to the brain, which may also be involved in nicotine addiction and withdrawal, the researchers state. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, and government entities like the U.
When body tissues do not have enough oxygen it causes a serious condition called hypoxia. Smokers can have as much as 10 times as much carbon monoxide in their bloodstream as non-smokers.
Exposure to large quantities of carbon monoxide is fatal. Tar is a mixture of the compounds in cigarette smoke which condensate turn from a gas to a solid once in the lungs to form a sticky brown substance, this is the cigarette smoke condensate.
Tar is the part of cigarette smoke which causes the yellow-brown stains on teeth and fingers. Tar is made of nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and a wide range other chemicals. These chemicals have short and long term effects on health. The short term effects include coughing and shortness of breath. The detrimental long term effects of tar have been known since the s when tumours grew on mice after their skin had been painted with the tar from cigarettes.
The chemicals in tar are the main causes of lung and throat cancer among smokers. Part of the cancer causing effect of tar is because it interferes with immune cell cycle progression which results in significant reductions in immune responses.
This in turn increases the incidence of tumours and respiratory tract infections. The tar that remains in the lung causes cells to die.
Some of the cells that are destroyed are cilia. Cilia are little hair-like structures that help move mucous out of the lung. Over time, loss of this cell function can lead to emphysema. While in the past a lot of study and emphasis has been placed on different strength cigarettes, it has since been found that one milligram of tar from one cigarette will contain equal amounts of carcinogens and cardiovascular toxicants as one milligram of tar in the next cigarette.
All cigarettes are dangerous and cause serious health consequences for you and those affected by the smoke from your cigarette. There are 5 main types of additives including processing aids, combustion aids, flavours, humectants and nicotine controllers. Ammonia compounds, carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol are used to make the cured tobacco less brittle and therefore make it easier to manufacture. Ammonium, sodium phosphate and sodium and potassium citrate are used to treat the cigarette paper which works to control the rate at which the cigarette papers burns.
Additives are also used to control the temperature of the burning cigarette. Humectants include sugars, glycerine and glycol compounds. They are used to keep the tobacco moist. Additives are used to aid the delivery of target doses of nicotine. Liquorice, cocoa, honey, fruit spices or fruit extracts can be used to improve the taste of cigarettes making them more palatable and appealing, especially for first-time smokers. Chemicals contained in liquorice, coffee and cocoa dilate the airways and as a result the smoker will achieve greater doses of nicotine and tar.
All flavours, especially sugars, mask the noxious taste of tobacco and the bitter taste of nicotine. However, what needs to be taken into account is that these ingredients are inhaled into the lungs rather than ingested, which is not safe. Furthermore, additives contain chemicals whose effects may not be harmful if ingested individually but when added to cigarettes can heighten the powerful addictive effects.
Additives aid in making the cigarette an attractive option which increases the difficulty of quitting. Cigarettes are not classified as drugs or food and therefore do not have standards placed on them in order to control the agricultural chemicals that are used in farming the tobacco and the amount of chemicals that are left on the plant once they have been farmed.
Agriculture additives may include fungicides, fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides. The government has a list of the ingredients in each brand of cigarettes but under the agreement this information is not made public.
There are some cigarettes which are designed to be dominated by a flavour. Since the early '90s, scientists have tried to determine whether this relationship is causal, but results have been inconclusive.
While a few studies have shown that smoking menthol cigarettes in particular is associated with an increased incidence of lung cancer, most have not. Researchers considered the possibility that smokers inhale more frequently and more deeply when smoking menthol cigarettes and, as a result, take in more carcinogens.
In fact, most studies find that if there is any difference among smokers at all, those who smoke menthol cigarettes take smaller and fewer puffs of each cigarette. So if the problem isn't menthol cigarettes, what is it? One idea is that there are racial differences in the liver's enzymes that can deactivate cancer-causing molecules in cigarette smoke. Such differences are common, and represent a definite possibility. While you probably don't have to worry too much about the menthol in your cigarettes, you still have to be concerned about the other molecules in cigarettes; they certainly are not improving your health.
Since you are health-conscious enough to worry about the menthol, maybe now is the time to think about trying a smoking cessation program or the nicotine patch.
Buzzed appears every Wednesday in Salon Health. About 80 percent of African Americans smokers prefer menthol cigarettes in comparison to 30 percent of white smokers. Like other cigarettes, menthol cigarettes cause diseases including cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and multiple adverse reproductive outcomes. Second-hand smoke exposure from any cigarette, including menthol cigarettes, can cause diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Menthol smokers show significantly higher levels of nicotine addiction compared with non menthol smokers in the same age group.
Menthol may help to cover the actual strength of cigarette smoke making it more pleasurable and more difficult to quit. Switch to non-menthol cigarettes a week or more before trying to quit.
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