Interesting

A mentholated cigarette is a regular cigarette with all the cancer-filled goodness plus a little dash of menthol. The menthol adds that extra bit of flavor and creates a cooling sensation as the toxic smoke is sucked down into the lungs.

Usually known as a “ladies’ choice” cigarette, menthol have seen a flux in the market since they were introduced back in 1932.

Not only do menthol cigarettes increase the systemic response of the body to nicotine, a new North American study reveals they are even more sinister than previously thought. Apparently, the dozens of already concluded studies demonstrating tobacco products cause cancer were not enough to thwart the addicts flocking to chain stores for menthols.

Not only do menthol users experience the mouth, throat, and lung cancer other smokers do, they also have an increased risk of stroke. If you’re a woman, or a non-African American, your risk is even higher.

Over 5,000 smokers were screened for a period of seven years in the menthol study. About 26 percent of these smokers stated they preferred the mentholated brands of cigarettes. During the research, 3.4 percent of the menthol smokers had experienced a stroke, while only 2.7 percent of the non-mentholated smokers had strokes. When the experts compared the numbers and took into account age, race, and sex, it was determined that smoking mentholated cigarettes doubled the chances of having a stroke when compared to non-mentholated cigarettes.

While researchers admit they can’t definitively say it was the menthol in the cigarettes that caused the increased risk rather than some unaccounted for external factor, given the poor track record of tobacco, the assumption that menthol is bad is probably accurate. Another variable the scientists cannot account for is that smoking menthol cigarettes did not increase blood pressure—something you’d suspect when there is an increase in stroke incidences.

In fact, the study revealed menthol did not have a worse risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, or chronic lung disease than regular cigarettes. Instead of affecting the overall circulatory system, this led researchers to believe smoking menthols affected the blood vessels in the brain directly.

All in all, the final results indicate that smoking will probably end badly for you, and if you’re in a rush to get to an early grave, mentholated cigarettes will probably give you that extra push. Cancer takes a while to take root in the body, but a stroke can knock you out in one fell swoop.

If you’re going to poison yourself by inhaling known carcinogens, you might as well do it the quick way and not prolong your suffering. Just admit it: You made a foolish choice by starting to smoke. You can’t argue that. It’s like eating rat poison from under the kitchen sink.

You know it’s bad for you, it doesn’t taste good, but you just made a poor decision when you were twelve. If you can’t quit, better switch to menthols before something worse than a stroke gets you.

www.sparkingdawn.com