Women who have never smoked face a higher risk of being overweight or obese than those who light up, according to a study by Scottish researchers in today’s British Medical Journal.The findings from the study of 3,613 Scottish women who were followed for 28 years suggest that higher smoking rates decades ago masked the true extent of obesity, the researchers wrote. Declines in tobacco use in industrialized countries since the early 1970s may help explain the increase in the number of people who are overweight or obese, they said.
