CHICAGO, Nov 23, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Women who quit smoking while
receiving treatment for weight control are better able to control weight and
quit cigarettes, U.S. researchers say.
Lead author Bonnie Spring, a professor of preventive medicine at the
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues say many
women don't quit smoking because they are afraid of gaining weight because
nicotine suppresses the appetite and boosts a smoker's metabolism.
"Women who smoke often feel caught between a rock and hard place, because
they're concerned about their health but also concerned about their appearance,"
Spring says in a statement. "Now they don't have to choose between the two."
Spring examined the results from 2,233 smokers in 10 studies from 1991-2007.
The review, published in the journal Addiction, showed that women whose
treatment addressed both smoking and weight control were 29 percent more likely
to quit smoking in the short term, three months, and 23 percent more likely to
quit in the long term, from six to 14 months, than those whose treatment
addressed only smoking.
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