Quitting Smoking May Boost Diabetes Risk Slightly in Older Women

Although quitting cigarettes helps the heart and lungs, a new study suggests that postmenopausal women who quit smoking need to guard against weight gain that can lead to diabetes. Still, "stopping smoking substantially decreases the risk of developing heart disease for postmenopausal women with and without diabetes," said lead investigator Juhua Luo, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Indiana University School of Public Health in Bloomington. However, "because gaining more than 11 pounds may lessen the benefit, women should try to avoid gaining more than this amount," she said. "Our study shows that it is never too late to benefit from quitting smoking." The report was published in the July 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_138364.html