Quitting smoking and weight gain link examined | NJ.com

It is no secret that many people use smoking to control their weight, with the main active ingredient nicotine acting as a stimulant and appetite suppressant. Risk of weight gain may even be one of the main reasons why people avoid quitting the habit despite the obvious health benefits. Researchers from a new study published in the British Medical Journal examined the weight changes in quitters from 62 randomized controlled trials for smoking cessation programs.

Researchers included only participants that quit smoking without the aid of nicotine supplementation and prescription drug therapy, and who had succeeded for at least 12 months. They discovered that on average participants gained 10 pounds, with majority of the weight put on within the first 6 months. The results also show that there was great variability. For instance in France 25% of the quitters lost weight or gained less than 2 pounds, while another quarter gained more than 17 lbs. Therefore the study author and professor at H?pital Paul Brousse, Henri-Jean Aubin, feels that it would be inaccurate to produce an average weight gain number for those who wish to quit smoking. He mentioned, "Although our study has confirmed that there is substantial weight gain on average during the first year of continuous abstinence, a prediction of average weight gain will be wrong for most individual smokers.? Nearly 20% of the smokers actually lose weight after one year of continuous abstinence and weight gain seemed to stabilize after three months.

Professors Esteve Fern?ndez and Simon Chapman write in an accompanying editorial to the study that these results may not be typical of quitters who do not use interventions. Approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of smokers do not seek out the assistance of cessation programs, unlike the participants of the study. Therefore they argue that those in the study may be representative of a population lacking self-efficacy, which can significantly affect other lifestyle behaviors such as diet and physical activity. Regardless Aubin emphasizes the importance of quitting smoking, compared to the risk of gaining weight. He said, ?Quitting smoking at age 40 increases life expectancy by nine years, even taking into account the possible post-cessation weight gain. If their smoking patients do not take steps now to quit smoking despite the risk of weight gain, when will they do it?"

Source: http://blog.nj.com/fitness/2012/08/quitting_smoking_and_weight_gain_link_examined.html

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