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This article caught my eye today. Now, we all know the effects of smoking on one's health. There are a number of illnesses that can cause damage later in life, including a variety of cancers and heart disease. Experts are always trying to find ways to prevent youth from starting the smoking habit. The latest now is that by smoking in adolescence, there is an increased risk of being fat later in life. They feel this may be more effective than mentioning the risks about heart disease, diabetes, and lung cancer.
This article caught my eye today. Now, we all know the effects of smoking on one's health. There are a number of illnesses that can cause damage later in life, including a variety of cancers and heart disease. Experts are always trying to find ways to prevent youth from starting the smoking habit. The latest now is that by smoking in adolescence, there is an increased risk of being fat later in life. They feel this may be more effective than mentioning the risks about heart disease, diabetes, and lung cancer.This thinking is all based on an upcoming article in the American Journal of Public Health of a long-term Finnish study of 4300 twins. The study looked at their smoking habits as adolescents and their body shape in young adulthood. Of the 12 percent who smoked during adolescence, 24 percent of men and 11 percent of women were overweight in their early 20s. These results were independent of health habits, participants' body weights, and genetics. Females who also smoked at least 10 cigarettes daily during adolescence had double the risk of becoming overweight as their non-smoking counterparts, according to this study.
While it is true that teenagers certainly feel as though they are invincible, I don't know that telling them they could be fat later in life is a better alternative for the prevention of smoking. This is yet another reminder how fat phobic we are as a society and this only provides a mere scare tactic.
