Durham, N.C. —  A Duke University study shows smokers prefer certain foods, such as coffee, alcoholic beverages and many rich foods, with their cigarette habit.

But researchers found it is the food that make cigarettes taste bad that might help smokers turn away from it.

Dr. Joe McClernon, with Duke's Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research Center, asked about 200 smokers about their food preferences.

"We had smokers telling us that dairy products made cigarettes taste worse, that non-alcoholic beverages, like water and juice -- and also that fruits and vegetables -- could worsen the taste of a cigarette," McClernon said.

McClernon also found people who smoked menthol cigarettes were less likely to say anything made cigarettes taste better or worse, meaning it might help even out the smoking experience, and make it less pleasurable.

"Anything that disrupts that can ultimately help a smoker quit," McClernon said.