Poor old Tobacco coming under fire again. This time, it’s a study on the non cancerous effects of menthols, that gives us new insight into the dangers of smoking. Menthols have previous been flagged for seeming more attractive and less harmful and also being preferred by women, youngsters and African Americans.

This week, research was published in The Archives of Internal Medicine by Nicholas T. Vozoris, M.H.Sc., M.D., from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He has investigated the links between mentholated cigarette smoking and cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, looking at data from more than 5,000 people over the age of 20, who were part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination between 2001 and 2008.

Around one quarter of the subjects smoked menthols enabling him to make a comparison between the health of menthol smokers and those on regular brands. It appears more than twice as likely, on average, that menthol smokers suffer strokes, while in women and non African Americans, the number rose to more than 3 times more likely.

The study did not find any increase in risks for other cardiovascular problems, such as hypertension, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The information is certainly a step in the right direction, however, the relatively small number of people, and the time span, seems quite small to this author, and Vozoris himself admits that more research is needed.

Vozoris concludes :

“Although potential causal links cannot be established and further research is required to confirm the findings, the association between mentholated cigarette smoking and stroke is noteworthy, given that the results are based on large population-level data, with data spanning nearly a decade, and given that the relationship is independent of multiple sociodemographic, smoking behavior, and health status confounders.”

It is always good to remind the public of the dangers of smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that smoking cigarettes increases a person’s risk of heart disease two-fold to four-fold, compared to non-smokers. On the other hand, after more than 40 years of exposing the dangers of tobacco, and the gradual tightening of smoking laws, perhaps it’s time that the healthcare community spent their time on other healthcare issues that are problematic to the population.

We know smoking is not a good habit long term, and short term leads to a daily addiction, smokng bans are in place around the world, moves are underway to limit display of the products in retailers and its reaching the point where Tobacco must either be outlawed, creating more cartels and violence, or just tolerated as something some people choose to do and that will die out over the next few generations. In time, Tobacco will probably be considered as outdated as a type writer.

Written By Rupert Shepherd