Menthol Cigarette Smokers Are More At Risk of Stroke
Of course, no type of cigarettes are good for your health. But a new research showed that menthol cigarette smokers are more at risk of suffering stroke when compared to non-menthol smokers. Menthol cigarettes are most popular in women.
Researchers suggest, if you still want to smoke, avoid smoking menthol cigarettes. “They are all bad. But, from the perspective in order to reduce the risk, at least menthol cigarettes should be avoided, “said Dr. Nicholas Vozoris from St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Menthol are added to cigarettes to add sweet flavor which are refreshing. Vozoris retrieve information from the department of health and lifestyle survey of 5,028 adult smokers. The survey was conducted in 2001 to 2008. Overall, about 26 percent of participants said they usually smoked menthol cigarettes and the remaining were non-menthol smoke.
A total of 3.4 percent menthol smokers said that they suffered a stroke, which occurs when clots block blood flow to the brain. While the risk of non-menthol smokers were only 2.7 percent.
After accounting for the smokers’ age , sex, and number of cigarettes they smoked,Vozoris concluded that menthol smokers have doubled risks of stroke when compared to those who choose non-menthol cigarettes.
The most striking difference was in women and people other than African-Americans. The survey found women had a threefold risk of stroke. This is not good news, previously it was known that it is more difficult for women to stop smoking.
To Reuters Health, Vozoris said that women and people from non-African American race who smoked menthol flavor cigarettes are at higher risk of stroke. Unfortunately, he was not sure what the reason is. This study can not answer that question.
But, interestingly, menthol cigarettes are not associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, or heart attack. “It’s interesting that this study shows the relationship between menthol cigarettes and stroke, but does not affect high blood pressure,” said Dr. Gordon Tomaselli, President of the American Heart Association and chief of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
It was previously also known that menthol cigarettes cause lower risks of lung cancer.
According Vozoris, the findings published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that levels of menthol in cigarettes have an adverse effect on the vessels that supply blood to the brain in particular. Some say menthol makes it easier to start smoking and harder to stop because it covers the tobacco flavor. But the producers did not agree.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention USA, smoking of any kind still increases a person’s risk of heart disease two to four times more than non-smokers. Tomaselli, who was not involved in the new study, said, “The effect of cigarette smoke is very widespread and affects several organ systems.”
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