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The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

 

Robert C. Klesges, Professor of Preventive Medicine at

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Contributes to 2012 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking, Health

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Major Contributor to Section Titled: Smoking and Body Weight

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Memphis, Tenn. (March 8, 2012) – Today the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin held a press conference announcing the release of the 2012 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health.  The focus of this year's report is Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults.  Robert C. Klesges, PhD, a faculty member in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), was a major contributor to the report.

            Dr. Klesges, along with colleagues at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of Iowa, contributed to the section entitled:  Smoking and Body Weight:  Is Smoking Associated with Body Weight in Youth and Are Concerns Related To Body Weight Associated With Smoking in Youth And Young Adults.

            Key conclusions of this section were:

·        Overall, there is a widespread belief among youth that smoking controls body weight, a perception reinforced by the tobacco industry, which extols the weight control qualities of using tobacco in their advertising.

·        Using smoking to attempt to control weight is common and widespread in youth and young adults, particularly among females.

·        Most importantly, though, smoking does not control body weight in youth and young adults.  Young people do not lose weight when they start smoking.  In fact there is evidence that when young people start smoking, they actually gain weight. 

·        Consistent with other Surgeon General Reports, when smokers quit smoking, they gain weight.

These conclusions will help guide future smoking prevention efforts, which counter the widespread perception that smoking controls weight.  Indeed, when young people begin to smoke, they do not lose weight and many actually gain weight.

 “What is important about our findings is that it removes a huge motivation for young people to start smoking,” Dr. Klesges said.  “Since many youth -- particularly young women -- begin to smoke because they think it helps them lose weight, there may be fewer young people who start to smoke as a result.”

A five-time contributor to U.S. Surgeon General's Reports, Dr. Klesges was also a recent contributor to the Institute of Medicine Report on Smoking and Smoking Cessation in the Military.  He and his colleagues are conducting many ongoing large-scale studies to reduce smoking rates, particularly in military settings.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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