Healthier cigarette created using grape seed extract filters

Washington: Researchers have found a way to make smoking less toxic using natural antioxidant extracts in cigarette filters.

Cornell University researchers were able to demonstrate that lycopene and grape seed extract used in cigarette filters drastically reduced the amount of cancer-causing free radicals passing through the filter.


“The implications of this technique can help reduce the hazardous effects of tobacco smoke, because free radicals are a major group of carcinogens,” said Dr. Boris Dzilkovski, who co-authored the paper.

Scientists have tried to make safer cigarettes in the past.

Haemoglobin (which transports oxygen in red blood cells) and activated carbon have been shown to reduce free radicals in cancer smoke by up to 90 percent, but because of the cost, the combination has not been successfully introduced to the market.
The research will be published in the groundbreaking Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), the only peer-reviewed, PubMed indexed video-journal.