A study published in this month’s journal of Health Service Research adds another facet to our understanding of the causes of obesity. Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley re-evaluated data on smoking and weight gain and determined that quitting smoking leads to an average weight gain of 21 pounds.
Considering the number of Americans who have kicked the habit in the last few decades, that could have a substantial impact on the prevalence of obesity.
Meanwhile many science-deficient activists continue to heap a supersized amount of blame on the food industry for the nation’s burgeoning waistline. It would do them well to recognize that the causes of obesity are far more complicated than hamburgers and soda pop.
