
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103140141
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STUDY FINDS EX-SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT

Smokers who lose the nicotine habit may gain more than they bargained for - about six pounds for men and over eight pounds for women, on average. That's the conclusion of a major study from the Centers for Disease Control, which found that ex-smokers gain substantially more weight than previously thought.

In general, blacks gain more than whites, heavy smokers more than those who consumed fewer than 15 cigarettes a day, and younger people more than those over 55.

But because smokers generally tend to weigh less than nonsmokers, those who quit cigarettes end up weighing about the same as those who never smoked.

The findings, to be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, are expected to focus new attention on weight-control regimens and psychological motivation for prospective quitters.

The CDC researchers noted that gains of more than 20 pounds can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, especially in women. But they stressed that "any deleterious effects of major weight gain in former smokers are small ... when compared to the harmful effects of smoking." Smoking is believed to cause about 400,000 U.S. deaths each year.

- The Washington Post

by CNB