Some smokers resist quitting because they fear they will gain weight if they do. They'd be better off with the additional weight, according to a study published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland studied the incidence of cardiovascular disease of 3,251 people over 25 years. Those who quit smoking lowered their risk of contracting disease by 54 percent, they found.
Those who quit smoking tended to gain between 6.6 and 13.2 pounds in the four years after they gave up cigarettes, mostly in the first six months, the researchers found. But the additional weight did not offset the health benefits of quitting smoking.
People with diabetes who gave up smoking gained an average of 2 pounds more than did quitters who didn't suffer from diabetes, the researchers found.health