Smoking, Weight Change, and Age

Abstract

This study examined a cohort of healthy white veterans during a five-year period in order to determine the effects of age and of change in smoking status on change in body weight. In general, regardless of age cohort, a greater number of excigarette smokers gained weight, more weight than did other men. However, excigarette smokers between the ages of 40 and 54 years old showed a substantial weight gain when, according to National Health Survey statistics, men in that age span normally gain little weight. While both chronological age and cigarette smoking change were significantly related to weight change, together they accounted for only 7.5% of the variance in weight change, suggesting the importance of other factors in explaining the weight change over a five-year period.