TORONTO - A new study says teenage girls who smoke cigarettes are no more likely to lose weight than girls who don't smoke, but teenage boys who smoke are on average 2.54 centimetres shorter than those who don't.
The researchers say the findings could have important public health implications, especially since many young girls who take up smoking say they do it to control their weight.
Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin of the University of Montreal says the research team was surprised there was no link between girls' weights and their smoking habits, because they too bought into the myth that girls who smoke weigh less.
She says the impact on boys' heights may be because they are still growing when they start to smoke, suggesting those who want to be athletes should see smoking as a bad idea.
The findings are from the Nicotine Dependence in Teens study, which is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.
The researchers followed 1,293 Montreal teenagers from age 12 through 17, asking them every three months to complete a questionnaire exploring their smoking and lifestyle habits.
The study was published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology.
