No Menthol Sunday: Menthol Cigarettes and the Push to Quit

Tiffany R., from CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign. CDC.

No Menthol Sunday, led each year by the Center for Black Health & Equity — on May 15 in the year CDC wrote this — brings faith leaders and their congregations together to talk about Black Americans' health, and to encourage people who smoke menthol cigarettes to quit. Tobacco is a major contributor to the three leading causes of death among African American people: heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Targeted marketing

Tobacco companies have long aimed menthol marketing at African American communities, especially in cities: advertising, giveaways, cheaper prices, and more shelf space in stores in Black and other minority neighborhoods. That targeting raises the risk of smoking, nicotine addiction and smoking-related disease and death.

What menthol does

Menthol, found in peppermint and similar plants or made in a lab, gives a cooling feeling in the throat and airways, making smoke feel less harsh. Companies sell menthols as "smoother," but they are just as harmful; in 2013 the FDA found they are likely a greater risk to public health than other cigarettes.

A CDC social media card on menthol. CDC.

Black smokers try to quit more often than White smokers but succeed less often, and menthol smokers may find quitting harder — perhaps because menthol enhances nicotine's effects in the brain.

Tiffany's story

Tiffany R. was 16 when her mother, a smoker, died of lung cancer. She still started smoking menthols in her late teens to fit in at school, and was soon smoking about a pack a day. After many attempts, she quit for good when her own daughter turned 16 and she saw the connection to her mother. She did not want her daughter to think cigarettes mattered more to her than her child did. What helped:

• a set quit date, and support from family and friends, who sent cards and reminders;
• swapping the morning cigarette and coffee for an extra hour of sleep;
• more water and exercise;
• carrying a photo of her mother;
• a nicotine patch, used as directed.

Without cigarettes she found more energy and stamina. In a CDC video her daughter, Jaelin, says she can't imagine life without her mother and is proud of her for quitting.

Help to quit

Quitting lowers the risk of heart disease, cancer, lung disease and more. Counseling and medicines together give the best chance. Clinicians should make proven treatment available without barriers.

Sources

Based on "No Menthol Sunday," Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Tiffany's words are paraphrased.