People who smoke slim cigarettes have lower exposure levels to nicotine and tar, a new study found.

The study was conducted by scientists at the R&D centre of the British American Tobacco. This can be a good thing as previous studies have found that slim cigarettes have become increasingly popular among smokers in several countries. Such studies have also established that the levels of certain toxic chemicals in the smoke of these cigarettes are lower than those in regular cigarettes. However, many studies have questioned the safety of these cigarettes because lower levels of chemicals in the smoke are not necessarily linked to a reduced exposure to harmful chemicals.

The study was conducted on 360 smokers who smoked either slim or regular cigarettes. Researchers measured all participants' exposure to tar and nicotine using a cutting-edge technique that involves measuring levels of chemicals in the smokers' used cigarette filters. Lead Scientist Madeleine Ashley noted that people who smoke slim cigarettes take smaller puffs, which explains why they're exposed to lower levels of tar and nicotine.

"This is likely to be due to the reduced circumference of slim cigarettes, making it harder to draw on," the researcher added in a press release.

"More studies measuring the levels of smoke chemicals in the blood of smokers are needed to fully understand the exposure of people who smoke slim cigarettes," Ian Fearon, Principal Scientist at British American Tobacco, said in a press statement. "However, we can assume, based on our current findings, that smokers of slim cigarettes are at no greater risk of exposure to smoke chemicals than regular cigarette smokers. Further work would be needed to assess how this relates to a smoker's health risk.'