Changes in body weight, total body fat, fat distribution, and dietary food intake in Hispanics participating in a 6 month smoking cessation program with and without the use of transdermal nicotine

Abstract

Smokers who successfully quit smoking gain weight; although important factors have been identified the mechanisms remain unclear. We measured changes in body weight, fat distribution, and dietary intake of macronutrients during a 26 week smoking cessation trial with the use of nicotine and placebo patch in a Hispanic sample of smokers (88% Mexican-American). Participants were randomized to receive patch treatment for 10 weeks and then followed for 16 weeks. We found that nicotine treated quitters experienced significantly less weight gain than placebo treated quitters at 6 weeks; however by 26 weeks, there were no significant differences among treatment groups. We found that percent total body fat (%TBF) for nicotine treated female quitters changed significantly less than for placebo treated female quitters at 10 weeks (p<0.05); there were no treatment differences in change in %TBF for males at 10 weeks. Male and female quitters experienced significantly less change in %TBF at 26 weeks than continued smokers (adjusted for treatment). Dietary intake of total energy, percent of total energy consumed as fat, protein, and carbohydrate were not significantly different by treatment group from BL for males or females. Thus, although body weight increased significantly in quitters versus non-quitters; dietary intake of macronutrients did not change significantly from BL for quitters and non-quitters. This suggests that factors other than changes in energy intake are responsible for the weight gain observed in this sample of Hispanic ex-smokers.