Dietary intake after smoking cessation among weight-concerned women smokers

Weight gain typically accompanies smoking cessation, and women smokers concerned about postcessation weight gain are prone to substantial gain. Little is known about the ways in which cessation affects dietary composition. Understanding postcessation changes in dietary composition may inform the design of smoking cessation interventions to address postcessation weight gain. Participants were women smokers concerned about postcessation weight gain enrolled in a randomized trial and assigned to either bupropion or placebo and to either standard cessation intervention or standard intervention plus components to address weight concerns. Women completed three, 24-hr food recall interviews at baseline, and at 1 and 6 months following a targeted quit date. At 6 months, 22% of women were abstinent and had gained 3.6 (±2.7) kg, compared to 0.91 (±2.0) kg for women who continued to smoke, p = .42. Abstinent women reported significantly higher energy intake and consumed a smaller percentage of fat across assessment points than did those who continued to smoke. Intervention was not associated with differential weight gain or change in percent of calories from protein, fat, or carbohydrates. This study is the first documentation of energy and macronutrient intake during smoking cessation treatment using a validated 24-hr dietary recall methodology. Although cessation was associated with overall increases in energy intake among women, neither bupropion nor weight concerns treatment affected energy or macronutrient intake. Future research to understand the relation between cessation and dietary intake needs to replicate and extend these findings to elucidate how, if at all, smoking cessation affects dietary intake.