Research
Hormonal
Smoking cessation improves insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk factors despite associated weight gain.
Even if you gain weight after quitting, your body's ability to handle sugar and your heart health will improve. This is a net positive for your long-term health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Smoking cessation seems to improve insulin sensitivity in spite of the weight gain.
Why this rating
Based on cross-sectional and prospective studies.
Source
Smoking cessation and weight gain
Claudia Filozof et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2004
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-789x.2004.00131.x
narrative_reviewCited 525×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Smoking cessation causes significant weight gain (mean 1-5.9 kg at 1 year) primarily through increased caloric intake, decreased resting metabolic rate, and increased lipoprotein lipase activity in subcutaneous fat.Good
- Nicotine replacement therapy (specifically gum) and bupropion significantly delay or reduce post-cessation weight gain compared to placebo.Good
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