Tobacco and Weight Control
June 11, 2011
– Comments (6)
Below is the abstract from this recent Journal of European Health article.
Background: Smoking is thought to produce an appetite-suppressing effect by many smokers. Thus, the fear of body weight
gain often outweighs the perception of health benefits associated with smoking cessation, particularly in adolescents. We
examined whether the tobacco industry played a role in appetite and body weight control related to smoking and smoking
cessation. Methods: We performed a systematic search within the archives of six major US and UK tobacco companies (American
Tobacco, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, Brown & Williamson and British American Tobacco) that were Defendants in
tobacco litigation settled in 1998. Findings are dated from 1949 to 1999. Results: The documents revealed the strategies planned
and used by the industry to enhance effects of smoking on weight and appetite, mostly by chemical modifications of cigarettes
contents. Appetite-suppressant molecules, such as tartaric acid and 2-acetylpyridine were added to some cigarettes.
Conclusion: These tobacco companies played an active and not disclaimed role in the anti-appetite effects of smoking, at
least in the past, by adding appetite-suppressant molecules into their cigarettes.
This is just part of the bigger strategy of undermining smoker's reasons and fears about quitting smoking. Ohter examples, promote smoking as a way control stress, never mind teaching that withdrawal and everyday stress feel like the same thing so if you really want to control it, quitting smoking will actually eliminate the bulk of the stress, although because they feel the same there is huge learned behaviour to smoke in response to every day stress as well as the withdrawal stress.
Or a few years back a study on lung cancer rates with quitting that was promoted by the industry so totally misrepresented the facts. You have about a 2000% increase in lung cancer risk from smoking and even with quitting the risk is still several hundred percent higher then for never smokers, but put that information out there in isolation and a smokers who is looking for a reason to give up on quitting has just been totally undermined seeing something like ex-smokers have 500% increased risk of lung cancer over never smokers. But it is about a 75% reduction in the lung cancer risk by quitting and in 10 years the heart has recovered to be the same as a never smoker.
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