Oklahoma smokers willing to try to quit, diet concurrently
Oklahomans are willing to tackle giving up smoking and losing weight at the same time, according to preliminary results of a survey of smokers using the state’s tobacco help line.
“People have weight concerns related to quitting smoking, but they’re still willing to call and get help,” said Laura Beebe, director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, which conducted the study. “People do want to address both of those concerns at the same time.”
Beebe gave results Thursday to the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund’s board of directors, which helped fund the study.
“In the past there’s been some mixed literature that had said, ‘No, if you’re going to treat people for tobacco addiction don’t address weight control,’” Beebe said.
The average weight gain after a person quits smoking is five to 10 pounds, Beebe said.
“We find now obesity is more of a problem in the general population and weight gain after smoking is also inching up there,” Beebe said.
Results are still being developed from the 18-month study, Beebe said. Follow-up work was completed in June.
Of the 2,000 smokers in the study, half received extra telephone calls to deal with weight gain issues, Beebe said. About half of those in the study, all callers to the state’s telephone smoking cessation service who had agreed to take part in the sampling, answered follow-up questions.
Beebe said the study also showed a majority of those taking part participated in low amounts of physical activity and ranked high on the body mass index.
Findings show 40 percent spent at least four hours sitting a day, 31 percent don’t take part in any physical activity and 19 percent do not walk for exercise, she said.
Almost 80 percent of those taking part in the study were overweight or obese, Beebe said. Anyone measuring higher than 30 on the body mass index, or having a high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass, is classified as obese; the average for those in the study was 30.4.
“We tend to think that smokers are skinny,” Beebe said. “But actually what we’re seeing in Oklahoma is a significant overlap between obesity and tobacco addiction.”
Copyright © September 11, 2009 Newsok
