A new Australian study debunking the myth that cigarettes keep
weight down is a further warning about the dangers of smoking, an
anti-smoking body says.
The study, conducted by a research team from the University of
New South Wales and the University of Melbourne, found people do
not shed fat simply because they smoke.
The research found smokers lost muscle mass, which gave them the
appearance of being thinner, but the fat instead was stored around
their vital organs.
Mice were studied over seven weeks, with half exposed to smoke
from four cigarettes a day for six days a week while the other half
smoke free.
Mice on the smoke diet ate about 23 percent less but their fat
mass kept to similar levels.
Quit executive director Fiona Sharkie said today the study was a
further warning to smokers they were endangering their health.
It also blew their perception they were burning fat and staying
thinner or losing weight, she said.
"If you lose muscle it looks like you are losing more weight,"
Ms Sharkie said.
"It gives the appearance you are looking skinnier, but you are
still storing the fat, which is not obviously a good thing."
"We're debunking that myth as well with these findings."
She said the fat would tend to gather around a smoker's girth
and torso, adding to the adverse effects on their health.
"That's around the liver, lungs, heart ... and the stomach as
well," she said.
(Agencies via China Daily November 1, 2007)