U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > HEALTH > STUDY FINDS EX-SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT FROM OVEREATING
STUDY FINDS EX-SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT FROM OVEREATING
June 13 2011
Washington, D.C. – There is perhaps no more difficult thing to overcome than addiction. True addiction, the kind which causes late night jaunts and sacrificing meals, can be profoundly destructive to a person’s well-being and even when they see that
happening, they are unable to do anything to stop it from happening. Thus is the power of addiction, the influence of chemicals on the human brain, and the way in which our obsessions play on the mind.
While there are certainly more difficult addictions to resolve, there is no more pervasive and persistent than cigarette smoking. Because it is so widespread, smoking easily stands as the most destructive of addictions. True, it does not have the dramatic effects of something like heroin, but the cumulative impact on society at large makes smoking the most deadly of obsessions. In the west, attitudes towards smoking have changed significantly in the last few decades. Most countries in those nations have robust laws against smoking, with most banning the act in public places and many engaging in aggressive anti-smoking campaigns. Still, even in those countries, many people continue to smoke due in part to cultural influences and the difficulty and deficits involved with quitting. One of those deficits has always been the fear of gaining weight, something quite common for most ex-smokers. Now though a new study has found that weight gain associated with quitting may in fact be a myth, and that most people gain weight after quitting because they eat too much.
“On average people gain less than ten pounds. Obviously some people are going to gain more than that and many a lot less, but that’s the average and that really isn’t worth worrying about. The deficits of that small weight gain is outweighed by the health gains of not smoking,” said one researcher. “What we found was that the majority of that weight gain is a result of people eating too much. They replace cigarettes with food and that causes the increase. However if they simply stop eating as much, they don’t gain the weight.”
The study did find that nicotine can affect the hypothalamus region of the brain, which controls appetite.
“We found in this study that many people will cite weight gain as a reason for not quitting, but this data shows that that is largely a myth, possibly perpetuated by smoking friends and even cigarette companies. The fear of weight gain is far more pervasive in our society than fears of cancer or emphysema, particularly amongst young people,” continued the researcher. “The conclusion to draw from all this is that if you eat less food you will gain less weight. That applies whether you are smoking or not. Unfortunately, the types of people prone to cigarette addiction are also a great deal less likely to be able to resist eating Big Macs and chilli dogs so it becomes a vicious circle. People trade one addiction for another.”
The study also found that many smokers are already a little overweight, so a few extra pounds wouldn’t really hurt.
“In the big picture, the health benefits of not smoking far outweigh the potential risks associated with weight gain. Obviously not enormous weight gain, but this kind of casual gain. If someone puts on a hundred pounds after quitting, well then they know something has gone wrong,” said Scrape TV Health analyst Rebecca Phelps. “Really though, the advice stays the same. Eat better and you gain less weight. That applies whether or not you are smoking.”
Most smokers believe food tastes better after quitting, which can lead to overeating.
Lauren Hebert, Health Correspondent
NEWS > HEALTH > STUDY FINDS EX-SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT FROM OVEREATING
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Health/pages-2/Study-finds-ex-smokers-gain-weight-from-overeating-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://tinyurl.com/3dp8kdc |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
