Only very few smokers know that cigarettes contain sugar and that the sugar contained in them is bad for us because it increases the toxins that are released during combustion. Why? It reduces the bitter taste of smoke, making it more pleasant to the palate of smokers, and facilitates inhalation. One more reason to stop with this harmful vice that, even after years, can create damage to the body, increasing the risks of cardiovascular and lung diseases, as well as having an impact on the onset of cancer. We talked about it with Dr. Licia Vanessa Siracusano, haemato-oncologist of Humanitas.

The sugar facilitates the inhalation of smoke

“Cigarettes contain natural and added sugars to reduce the harshness of the smoke, facilitating its inhalation. This also increases the amount of harmful chemicals in the smoke and the potential for addiction,” said Andrew Seidenberg, of the University of North Carolina, principal author of the study that brought out this evidence.

Recruiting them through Amazon Mechanical Turk, to participate in an online experiment on electronic cigarette advertising, Dr Seidenberg and colleagues involved 4,350 adult cigarette smokers. At the end of the experiment, respondents answered questions about the presence of added sugar in cigarettes and the awareness that the presence of sugar was further harmful to health. Researchers found that 5.5% of respondents knew that cigarettes only contain 3.8% were aware that the presence of sugar increased toxins in smoking.

“We were really surprised that almost all smokers surveyed did not know that sugar is added to their cigarettes. The risk cannot be hidden,” adds Seidenberg.