Ws. Pritchard et al., Little evidence that "denicotinized" menthol cigarettes have pharmacological effects: an EEG/heart-rate/subjective-response study, PSYCHOPHAR, 143(3), 1999, pp. 273-279
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.