Yeah I will say you hear all kinds of conflicting stuff about menthol including the vaguely menacing claim that more minorities smoke menthol cigarettes so society is like, inadvertently or even on purpose killing of minorities faster. I really don't know if there is any definitive proof and well, IDK how far GOOGLE is gonna get you on that one, but I've known some long term menthol smokers in my time, and like, they don't particularly seem to wither off and die at a higher or faster rate than the rest of us.
IDK, I know it's not scientific, it's just that "vaguely scary" rumor that sort of seems to rise and fall with the phases of the moon, and no one has ever been able to substantiate if for you. well me anyway.
I will note that I have EATEN enough Ricolas in a day to fell perhaps a small, Shetland pony, and I'm still here. I'm working on it (the Ricola thing, because it's getting out of hand) along with the diet pepsi thing, but I'm not dead yet.
I think a lot of this stuff is speculative, but I could be quite wrong and the Ricolas are killing me slow bit by slow bit. But man, so does TIME y'know? Since I'm always having to work on my overconsumption of SOMETHING, alas, I will say that Ricolas are probably "less dangerous than menthol cigarettes" and they certainly aren't going to crystalize in my LUNGS probably, but I'm also fine with not loving menthol THAT MUCH. Etc
Yay, coincidentally enough time has passed that I'm allowed to eat a Ricola! I really hate dry mouth. Like, a LOT.
Anna