Scientific Affairs, AW Spears Research Center, Lorillard Tobacco Company, PO Box 21688, Greensboro, NC 27420-1688, USA.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2010 Jan;48 Suppl 2:S1-38. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2009.11.002.
Cigarette smoking is established as a substantial contributor to risks for cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Less is known about the potential of cigarette composition to affect smoking risks. The use of cigarette flavoring ingredients such as menthol is currently of worldwide public health and regulatory interest. The unique conditions of menthol inhalation exposure that occur coincident with that of the complex cigarette smoke aerosol require specialized studies to support an assessment of its safety in cigarette flavoring applications. The present state of knowledge is sufficient to support an assessment of the safety of the use of menthol in cigarettes. Scientific, smoking behavioral and epidemiological data available through mid-2009 is critically reviewed and a broad convergence of findings supports a judgment that menthol employed as a cigarette tobacco flavoring ingredient does not meaningfully affect the inherent toxicity of cigarette smoke or the human risks that attend smoking. There remains a need for well-designed studies of the potential of menthol to affect smoking initiation, cessation and addiction in order to differentiate any independent effects of menthol in cigarettes from those imposed by socioeconomic, environmental and peer influences on these complex human behaviors.
吸烟已被确定为癌症、心血管和呼吸道疾病风险的重要因素。关于香烟成分对吸烟风险的潜在影响，人们了解得较少。目前，人们对使用薄荷醇等香烟调味成分的潜在风险非常关注，这是全球公共卫生和监管机构关注的问题。薄荷醇吸入暴露的独特条件与复杂的香烟烟雾气溶胶同时发生，需要进行专门的研究，以支持对其在香烟调味应用中的安全性进行评估。目前的知识状况足以支持对使用薄荷醇在香烟中的安全性进行评估。对截至 2009 年年中的科学、吸烟行为和流行病学数据进行了批判性审查，广泛的研究结果表明，薄荷醇作为香烟烟草调味成分使用并不会显著影响香烟烟雾的固有毒性或吸烟带来的人类风险。为了区分薄荷醇在香烟中的独立作用与社会经济、环境和同伴对这些复杂人类行为的影响，仍需要对薄荷醇在吸烟起始、戒烟和成瘾方面的潜在影响进行精心设计的研究。
