The steady increase in the number of teen girls who are smoking has become a subject of grave concern. A study of almost 1300 Montreal students both boys of whom 42% smoked and girls of whom 73% smoked in the age group of 12-13 reveals some startling facts about why they smoke.
Teen girls actually believe that they can control as well as lose weight by smoking. However researchers say this is a load of rubbish. In fact, smoking has absolutely no impact on weight loss and research proves that both smokers and non-smokers among teen girls gain weight at the same rate.
Teen boys in fact have a lot to lose by smoking since it actually retards their growth. They end up leaner and shorter than non-smoking boys.Igor Karp, a McGill University researcher interprets that this is not so in the case of girls since they achieve maximum growth before puberty unlike boys.
Sharing the concern on this trend, Louise Pilote who heads Genesis says "There is an important public health message here that we need to get to teenage girls: smoking is not going to help you lose weight." Genesis is a study group that is working on understanding sex and gender difference in cardiovascular disease.
Joanne DiNardo with the Ontario Lung Association joins in with a scathing attack on the tobacco industry which has employed a wily and strategic ploy on impressionable young minds that smoking actually helps control weight. "I think young people are very important to the tobacco industry, because eventually the people who currently smoke will not survive, and those smokers have to be replaced," DiNardo told CTV.
Research conducted in the past has shown that more teen girls believe they are overweight than do teen boys. This insight came up after a study was commissioned among 4,000 Catholic high school students. One-third of girls considered themselves overweight, compared to 14 per cent of boys.
While making a presentation of study findings to the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress annual meeting, DiNardo expressed that women's cardiovascular outcome has always been poorer but not much information is available on why that is so. 'We hope to change that', she said.
Concludes DiNardo "Smoking isn't glamourous," DiNardo said, "and the tobacco industry is actually duping you. They're out to get young people. Who else is going to replace all those smokers?"
