Smoking Tied to Poor Eating Habits

WEDNESDAY, May 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Smokers tend to eat less and have less healthy eating habits than nonsmokers, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Congress on Obesity, hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity from May 12 to 15 in Venice, Italy.

Arwa Alruwaili, from the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined associations of smoking with eating and dietary behaviors among 83,781 U.K. men and women (6,454 smokers) participating in health assessment programs between 2004 and 2022.

The researchers found that when adjusting for age, sex, and index of multiple deprivation, smokers were more likely to skip meals, have fewer meals per day, go more than three hours without food, and find it hard to leave something on their plate versus nonsmokers (all adjusted odds ratio [aOR] ≥ 1.08). Compared with nonsmokers, smokers were less likely to snack between meals and eat food as a reward or out of boredom (aOR ≤ 0.86). Additionally, smokers were less likely to eat sweet foods between meals and for dessert (aOR ≤ 0.92), but more likely to eat fried food and add salt and sugar to meals (aOR ≥ 1.08). 

"These findings reinforce the importance of providing nutritional and weight management support in the large-scale efforts to prevent and reduce smoking in the general U.K. population," Alruwaili said in a statement. "This could help to promote more successful quit attempts, and to improve people's eating habits and the many diseases that are related to both of these major health risks."

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