Associations between smoking and body weight in the US population: analysis of NHANES II.
Abstract
Recent recommendations for increases in desirable body weights are based upon studies which did not consider the potential confounding effect of cigarette consumption on body weight. We investigated the relation between tobacco use and several anthropometric measurements in 12,103 men and women 19-74 years of age in the United States examined between 1976 and 1980 during the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II). Cigarette smokers weighed less (mean +/- standard error = 69.8 +/- 0.2 kg) and were leaner (body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2) = 24.6 +/- 0.1) than nonsmokers (72.5 +/- 0.2 kg and 25.7 +/- 0.1, respectively), controlling for age and sex. Body leanness increased with the duration (but not intensity) of smoking. Ex-smokers were not heavier or fatter than nonsmokers, and these groups experienced similar weight gain after age 25 (approximately 6 kg in men, 9 kg in women), while current smokers gained substantially less weight (3.5 kg in men, 5.4 kg in women). Compared to nonsmokers, former and current smokers were also slightly taller. Most of these associations were evident in both sexes and all ages evaluated, and were not explained by differences in caloric intake, physical activity, illness, or socioeconomic status. Our findings suggest that the increased mortality observed among lean individuals in previous studies may have been due to smoking rather than leanness per se, and that as a result, currently accepted desirable body we…
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On average, smokers weigh approximately 5 kg less than nonsmokers and have significantly lower body mass index than nonsmokers.
“On average, smokers weigh ∼5 kg less than nonsmokers and have significantly lower body mass index than nonsmokers (Albanes et al. 1987).”
From Mechanisms of Nicotine Addiction (2021) · cites this paper as Albanes et al. 1987
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- Authors
- Albanes, D., Jones, D. Y., Micozzi, M. S., & Mattson, M. E.
- ORCID
- Albanes, D
- Venue
- American Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Published
- 1987-04
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 439-444
- ISSN
- 0090-0036 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0048
- OpenAlex
- W1975477174
- Cited by
- 401
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 10.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Lifestyle Studies
- Keywords
- smoking, body weight, body mass index, leanness, weight gain, former smokers, current smokers, anthropometry, NHANES II
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Body Height, Body Weight, Energy Intake, Cross-Sectional Studies, Data Collection, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Smoking, United States
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