Little evidence that "denicotinized" menthol cigarettes have pharmacological effects: an EEG/heart-rate/subjective-response study

Rationale: A substantial portion of cigarette smokers prefer menthol-flavor ed cigarettes. To date, however, no studies have examined whether menthol i n cigarettes has central pharmacological effects. Objective: We investigate d psychophysiological and subjective effects of smoking menthol versus non- menthol cigarettes in both menthol and non-menthol smokers. To assess these effects independently of the immediate effects of nicotine, all cigarettes employed were "denicotinized" (FTC nicotine yield = 0.06 mg). Methods: The psychophysiological measures were EEG and heart rate (HR). The subjective measures assessed mental alertness, muscular relaxation, anxiety/nervousnes s, and how much a participant wanted to smoke one of his usual brand of cig arettes. Menthol and non-menthol smokers participated in a single session i n which each participant smoked both a menthol and a non-menthol denicotini zed cigarette (order balanced across participants). The psychophysiological and subjective measures were recorded before and after smoking each cigare tte. Results: Out of 48 F-ratios spanning 22 analyses of variance involving the critical interaction between pre-/post-smoking and menthol/non-menthol cigarette, only one unambiguously fit a "pharmacological" pattern, a resul t indistinguishable from a type-I statistical error. We report evidence tha t menthol smokers may be chronically less aroused and more sensitive to the effects of nicotine than non-menthol smokers. Conclusions: We found little evidence that menthol in cigarettes has central pharmacological effects.