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• Teens Girls Smoke Now, Pay Later With Larger Waistlines As Adults 

Remember the cool girls, huddled together in high school restrooms, puffing their cigarettes? Well, here's consolation for the nerds in the crowd: Those teen smokers are more likely to experience obesity as adults, according to a new study from Finland.

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers' waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

But smoking in adolescence did not necessarily predict weight problems for men, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women's weight and smoking, said lead study author Suoma Saarni, a researcher with the Department of Public Health in Helsinki.

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Gender as a Moderator in the Association of Body Weight to Smoking and Mental Health  

Results. Relative to their healthy-weight counterparts, overweight or obese men were less likely to smoke, whereas overweight women were more likely to smoke. Mental health problems were not related to relative body weight among men. However, overweight or obese women were more likely than were their healthy-weight counterparts to have a negative self-assessment of mental health, and obese women were more likely to have a mental health problem. In addition, underweight women had increased odds of being a smoker and having mental health problems.

Conclusions. The results indicate that gender has a moderating role in the association between body weight and both smoking and mental health. Gender-specific analysis rather than adjustment for the impact of gender in analyses is a promising avenue for future research.

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Food Phosphates Might Spur Lung Cancer  

A diet rich in the inorganic phosphates found in many natural and processed foods accelerated the growth of lung cancers in rats, South Korean researchers report.

"Our study suggests that dietary regulation of inorganic phosphates may be critical for lung cancer treatment as well as prevention," Myung-Haing Cho, lead author of a report in the first January issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, said in a statement.

But, "an individual shouldn't act on these results as yet, other than to encourage funding organizations such as the National Institutes of Health to support research to see whether dietary phosphates encourage cancer," said Dr. John Heffner, a professor of medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and past president of the American Thoracic Society, which publishes the journal.

Natural sources of dietary phosphates include leafy vegetables, fruits, meats and poultry products. Phosphates also are added to a number of foods, including baking powder, carbonated cola drinks, ice cream, bread, rolls, macaroni, fruit jellies and preserves. Food phosphates are listed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as GRAS -- generally recognized as safe -- with no limits on their use.

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$1 Billion Plaza Revives Oak Room With $28 Burgers: Food Buzz  

The Oak Room, in The Plaza Hotel on Manhattan’s Central Park South, has always been better known as an old bar than as a good restaurant. Well, it’s still old and there’s still a bar. And after an elaborate renovation, the restaurant still charges exorbitant sums for uninspired food. . . .

No smoking in 2008, but here’s a chocolate cigar with tobacco cream. It’s $19 but tastes cheap. That’s the Plaza.

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Quitting Smoking Tougher on Women  

Women who quit smoking tend to suffer more intense withdrawal symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, poor concentration and weight gain, a new report says.

Whether men or women tend to be more successful at ending their cigarette habit was not determined by the report, published in the December issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. But the study noted that after gaining an average of 5 to 10 pounds during withdrawal, some women start smoking again.

"People need to realize that if they have a relapse, they can learn from it," Patrick Draper, a tobacco treatment specialist at the Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center, said in a news release issued by the clinic. "The only way to stop smoking is to keep trying."

Most people require four to six tries before successfully quitting, and Draper suggested four key steps to help end the addiction:

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MARCUS: Falling off the wagon  

For most of my life, I (like many others) labored under a misconception that admitting a weakness was no different than accepting defeat. Yet there, on "Meet the Press," in front of countless millions, the soon-to-be leader of the free world fessed up to the fact that he has trouble overcoming the common habit of smoking.

Whether one supports Mr. Obama's political ambitions or does not, it is refreshing to witness a person in a position of immense power admit shortcomings. . . .

If Barack Obama can admit that he sneaks a stogie now and then, I feel a heck of a lot better acknowledging that I eat a few too many fries every so often. After all, look how it turned out for him.

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• Teen smokers looking at adult obesity 

TEENAGE girls who smoke more than double their chance of becoming obese in adulthood, according to a study hailed by Australia's Quit organisation as a myth-buster.

The research also found girls who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day in their teens went on to have waists measuring about 3.5cm larger than non-smokers when they reached their 20s.

Victoria-based Quit Support Programs manager Luke Atkin said the finding was important as many young women still drew a favourable association between smoking and thinness - despite the dire health warnings.

"This study shows smoking as a teen could actually increase your chances of obesity when you are in your 20s," Mr Atkin said.

"For decades the tobacco industry has pushed the idea that smoking somehow equates to being fashionable or glamorous but as this study shows, a teen girl who smokes could be on a fast track to obesity.

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For decades the tobacco industry has pushed the idea that smoking somehow equates to being fashionable or glamorous but as this study shows, a teen girl who smokes could be on a fast track to obesity.
Victoria-based Quit Support Programs manager Luke Atkin, on the recent Finnish study.

Association of Smoking in Adolescence With Abdominal Obesity in Adulthood: A Follow-Up Study of 5 Birth Cohorts of Finnish Twins  

Conclusions. Smoking is a risk factor for abdominal obesity among both genders and for overweight in women. The prevention of smoking during adolescence may play an important role in promoting healthy weight and in decreasing the morbidity related to abdominal obesity.

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• Teens Girls Smoke Now, Pay Later With Larger Waistlines as Adults  

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers’ waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

But smoking in adolescence did not necessarily predict weight problems for men, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women’s weight and smoking, said lead study author Suoma Saarni, a researcher with the Department of Public Health in Helsinki. However, she added, “We do not know why smoking did not affect men’s weight, as we do not know why smoking affected women’s weight.”

The study followed twins born between 1975 and 1979

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W. Virginia town shrugs at poorest health ranking 

As a portly woman plodded ahead of him on the sidewalk, the obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city explained why health is not a big local issue.

"It doesn't come up," said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. "We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus."

Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese _ an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).

It's a sad situation, and a potential harbinger of what will happen to other U.S. communities, said Ken Thorpe, an Emory University health policy professor who is working with West Virginia officials on health reform legislation. . . .

The smoking rate is pretty high, too, although not the worst. . . .

Local politicians tend to be equally tepid about improving health, said Dr. Harry Tweel, director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.

Smoking _ a common sin in West Virginia _ has been hard to control, Tweel said. When the health department tried to restrict smoking in local bars and restaurants, a group of local businesses fought it all the way to the state Supreme Court. (The restrictions were upheld in 2003.) Even hospitals have fought smoking restrictions in the past, Tweel said.

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Gender as a Moderator in the Association of Body Weight to Smoking and Mental Health  

Objectives. I sought to examine gender's role as a moderator in the association of relative body weight to smoking and mental health. . . .

Conclusions. The results indicate that gender has a moderating role in the association between body weight and both smoking and mental health. Gender-specific analysis rather than adjustment for the impact of gender in analyses is a promising avenue for future research.

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Association Of Body Weight To Smoking And Mental Health Differs By Gender 

Gender has a moderating role in the association between body weight and both smoking and mental health, a new study concludes. Researchers found that relative to their healthy-weight counterparts, overweight or obese men were less likely to smoke, whereas overweight women were more likely to smoke.

Data were collected from a statewide Minnesota telephone survey with a sample size of 16,289. Both smoking and mental health problems were examined in relation to relative body weight across the genders. The results showed that overweight or obese women were more likely to be current smokers, to view their mental health conditions negatively, and to have a mental health problem than healthy-weight women. In contrast with the men, either an association did not exist or the direction was reversed. "Gender-specific analysis may be a promising avenue for a full understanding of the association between body weight and behavioral health. In addition, the findings suggest that interventions may need to be gender-specific," the study's author stated.

"Gender as a Moderator in the Association of Body Weight to Smoking and Mental Health" Eunkyung Park et al. American Journal of Public Health

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• Broccoli May Lower Lung Cancer Risk In Smokers 

The cancer preventive properties of broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables appear to work specifically in smokers, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

Cruciferous vegetables have been shown to be protective in numerous studies, but this is the first comprehensive study that showed a protective benefit in smokers, specifically in former smokers, according to lead author Li Tang, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

"Broccoli is not a therapeutic drug, but for smokers who believe they cannot quit nor do anything about their risk, this is something positive," Tang said. "People who quit smoking will definitely benefit more from intake of cruciferous vegetables."

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Kids Starve So Smokers Can Puff - AMA Article Says 

Children often go without food for entire days or longer, especially in the homes of smokers, where the chances that they will experience such "severe food insecurity" is 3 times higher than in homes without smokers, even after adjusting for income, says a new article in a journal of the American Medical Association. . . .

Unfortunately but not surprisingly, although the publication advocates increasing the cigarette tax - a step which, while helpful for many - will also increase the problem for millions of children, it totally fails to even mention two effective strategies which could be implemented at virtually no cost by the medical profession itself.

The first would be to persuade physicians to report as suspected "child abuse" instances where parents smoke at home in the presence of children - especially children who already have asthma, sinusitis, or other conditions which make them especially sensitive and susceptible.

This single step would provide a tremendously powerful incentive for parents to quit, thereby protecting the children not only from the dangers of smoke, but also the major problems of having insufficient food.

Indeed, notes Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, smoking around children is increasingly being termed "child abuse," a term which can include subjecting a child to any significant unnecessary health harm or risk, and laws already require doctors to report any suspected child abuse.

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Vitamin C, E Supplements Won't Help Prevent Cancer 

Coming on the heels of two studies discounting the usefulness of vitamin B, folic acid, vitamin D and calcium supplements for cancer prevention, U.S. researchers report that vitamins C and E supplements won't help prevent cancer, either.

The same team also recently reported that vitamin C and E supplements weren't helpful in protecting users against heart disease.

"At least in the context of two very common outcomes -- cardioprotection and chemoprevention -- we see no compelling evidence to take vitamin E or C supplements," said one of the study's authors, Dr. Howard Sesso, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Sesso is expected to present the findings Sunday at an American Academy of Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Washington, D.C. . . .

"There are things we know about cancer prevention," he said. Sesso advised people to "eat a well-balanced diet, maintain a healthy weight, don't smoke, and exercise regularly."

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