Relationships among smoking status, body composition, energy intake, and physical activity in adult males: a longitudinal analysis.

This study evaluates the longitudinal relationships among smoking and adiposity, dietary intake, and physical activity in a group of adult males. Subjects were 101 nonsmokers and 19 regular cigarette smokers. Adiposity, dietary intake, and physical activity were assessed annually for three consecutive years. Results indicated that nonsmokers had larger tricep skinfold measurements than smokers over the 3-year period. However, dietary intake and physical activity did not differ between groups. Due to the absence of differences on these two variables for the smoking and nonsmoking groups, it was concluded that the lower adiposity in smokers was largely metabolically determined, which may make difficult the treatment of postcessation weight gain.