Quitting smoking was associated with a weight gain of 5.2 pounds over 4 years according to a study by Harvard researchers.

(Being a former smoker was associated with a weight gain of only 0.1 pounds.)

High-nicotine cigarettes increase metabolism more than low nicotine cigarettes according to one study. Resting metabolism increased 6.8 percent after one cigarette of either the high (1.74 mg nicotine) or low nicotine (0.8 mg). However, after several cigarettes metabolism increased more with the high-nicotine cigarettes than the low ones—an increase in metabolism of of 9.8% versus 5.9 percent.

Six weeks after stopping smoking, calorie intake had increased by an average of 412 calories per day compared to when they were smoking according to a recent study.

The average weight gain when a person stops smoking is roughly 11 pounds for a woman of average height (5-feet-4), and 13 pounds for a man of average height (5-feet-9) according to a new study from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.

This is more than previously reported. The reason for this is that this study looked at weight gain over a longer period of time.

The risk of obesity is 1.5 to 2-fold greater in children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy notes a new paper on endocrine disrupters as causes of obesity by Bruce Blumberg from the University of California Irvine.

Smoking cessation is responsible for an estimated one-fourth of the increase in the prevalence of overweight among women, and one-sixth of the increase in men according to a 1995 study.

The average weight gain after 10 years following smoking cessation was 9.7 pound for men, and 11 pounds for women.

Smokers who had quit smoking in the previous 10 years were twice as likely to become overweight as those who had never smoked—2.4 times as likely for men who had stopped smoking, and 2 times as likely for women who had stopped smoking.

“[T]he prevalence of smoking in the United States fell from 24.7% in 1995 to 20.8% in 2005, whereas obesity rates have increased from 23.3% in the 1988–1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to 32.1% in the 2001–2004 survey,”

“Adult obesity rates in the United States have increased by more than 50%, whereas tobacco use among adults decreased by about 44% since 1970,” noted Dr. C. A. Robb from the University of Alabama in a recent paper regarding weight gain following smoking cessation.

Obesity shortens the lifespan of men by an average of 5 years and of women by 10 years according to a study from the National Institute of Public Health in Denmark.

People who smoke are 37 percent less likely to be obese than people who do not smoke according to a new paper.

Ex-heavy smokers are 42 percent more likely to be obese than those who have never smoked, and current light smokers are 54 percent less likely to be obese according to a study from Finland.

“In 2002, 23.5% of [U.S.] adults were obese, 22.7% smoked, and 4.7% smoked and were obese,” concluded a study published in the British Medical Journal. The total number of people affected are 9 million. “Although the proportion of adults who smoke and are obese is relatively low, this subgroup is concentrated among lower socioeconomic groups.”

The prevalence of obesity in Portugal from 1995-96 to 1998-99 increased in men from 10.3 percent to 11.5 percent, and in women from 12.7 percent to 14.2 percent according to a new paper.

Men who used to smoke 31 or more cigarettes per day were 5 times more likely to become obese than men who had never smoked according to a new study from the University of Greifswald in Greifswald, Germany. This was not true for women.

Men who used to smoke cigarettes are an average of 8 pounds heavier than men who never smoked or men who currently smoke according to a study from Germany. Women who used to smoke were found to be no heavier on average than women who had never smoked.

People with severe mental illness are 1.7 times more likely to be overweight, and 2.6 times more likely to be obese than the general population according to a study from Kentucky.

“Tobacco use is strongly associated with a lifetime history of recurrent intentional major weight-loss episodes in early adulthood,” according to a study from the University of Helsinki in Finland.

MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN who stop smoking gain an average of 5.3 lbs. According to a study from Harvard, moderate exercise can reduce this gain to 4 lbs and more intense exercise further reduces it to a weight gain of 2.9 lbs.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN smoking and relative body weight differs by level of education according to a recent study.

Blacks gain more weight after they stop smoking according to the results of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.