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. 2011 May;20 Suppl 2(Suppl_2):ii29-36.
doi: 10.1136/tc.2010.041970.

Menthol's potential effects on nicotine dependence: a tobacco industry perspective

Valerie B Yerger  1
Affiliations

Menthol's potential effects on nicotine dependence: a tobacco industry perspective

Valerie B Yerger. Tob Control. 2011 May.

Abstract

Objective: To examine what the tobacco industry knows about the potential effects menthol may have on nicotine dependence.

Methods: A snowball strategy was used to systematically search the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/) between 22 February and 29 April, 2010. Of the approximately 11 million documents available in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, the iterative searches returned tens of thousands of results. We qualitatively analysed a final collection of 309 documents relevant the effects of menthol on nicotine dependence.

Results: The tobacco industry knows that menthol overrides the harsh taste of tobacco and alleviates nicotine's irritating effects, synergistically interacts with nicotine, stimulates the trigeminal nerve to elicit a 'liking' response for a tobacco product, and makes low tar, low nicotine tobacco products more acceptable to smokers than non-mentholated low delivery products.

Conclusion: Menthol is not only used in cigarettes as a flavour additive; tobacco companies know that menthol also has sensory effects and interacts with nicotine to produce tobacco products that are easier to smoke, thereby making it easier to expose smokers, especially those who are new and uninitiated, to the addictive power of nicotine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Philip Morris test cigarettes with the highest level of menthol but the lowest level of nicotine delivery had the highest impact scores.
Figure 2
Figure 2
As nicotine levels decrease and menthol levels increase, impact score increases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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