The findings from the study of 3,613 Scottish women who were followed for 28 years suggest that higher smoking rates decades ago masked the true extent of obesity, the researchers wrote. Declines in tobacco use in industrialized countries since the early 1970s may help explain the increase in the number of people who are overweight or obese, they said.
The study also concluded that obesity was more prevalent in poorer women, who had higher death rates from related conditions, than in wealthier ones. Women in the study who avoided smoking and kept their weight in check had the lowest death rates, regardless of whether they were rich or poor.
“There is a general sense that if you live on the wrong side of the tracks, you are bound to be less healthy,” Laurence Gruer, the lead researcher and director of public health science for NHS Health Scotland in Glasgow, said in a telephone interview. “This shows that’s not necessarily the case.”
Nicotine, a stimulant found in tobacco, may eventually explain more about the relationship between smoking and obesity rates, Gruer said. Nicotine appears to suppress the appetite of some smokers and may play a role in why some people who quit smoking go on to gain weight, he said.
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