NHLBI, FDA, Awards UW-Madison grant to study menthol

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI), in collaboration with the FDA, has awarded the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention a $368,000 grant to study the use of menthol cigarettes at UW-Madison.

This project will add to the body of research the FDA is examining to determine whether or how to regulate menthol flavoring in tobacco products.

About 75-percent of adult black smokers and about 25-percent of adult white smokers in the United States smoke menthol cigarettes, according to a release from the UW-Madison.

At this point, little is known about what the risks of smoking menthol versus non-menthol cigarettes with regard to tobacco dependence or quitting motivation and success.

The proposed research will use the resources of the Wisconsin Smokers' Health Study 2 to determine the associations of menthol-smoking versus smoking non-menthol cigarettes with tobacco dependence, attempts to quit smoking, and quitting success.