A new Australian study debunking the myth that cigarettes keep weight down is a further warning about the dangers of smoking, an anti-smoking body says.
 
    A new Australian study debunking the myth that cigarettes keep weight down is a further warning about the dangers of smoking, an anti-smoking body says.

    The study, conducted by a research team from the University of New South Wales and the University of Melbourne, found people do not shed fat simply because they smoke.

    The research found smokers lost muscle mass, which gave them the appearance of being thinner, but the fat instead was stored around their vital organs.

    Mice were studied over seven weeks, with half exposed to smoke from four cigarettes a day for six days a week while the other half smoke free.

    Mice on the smoke diet ate about 23 per cent less but their fat mass kept to similar levels.

    Quit executive director Fiona Sharkie said today the study was a further warning to smokers they were endangering their health.

    It also blew their perception they were burning fat and staying thinner or losing weight, she said.

    "If you lose muscle it looks like you are losing more weight," Ms Sharkie said.

    "It gives the appearance you are looking skinnier, but you are still storing the fat, which is not obviously a good thing.

    "We're debunking that myth as well with these findings."

    She said the fat would tend to gather around a smoker's girth and torso, adding to the adverse effects on their health.

    "That's around the liver, lungs, heart ... and the stomach as well," she said.

    人們一向以為吸煙有助于減輕體重。一個反煙組織稱，澳大利亞一項最新的研究推翻了這種錯誤的認識，進一步警示吸煙的危害。

    新南威爾士大學和墨爾本大學的聯合研究小組調查發現，人并不會僅僅因為吸煙而減肥。

    研究發現吸煙使人的肌肉群減少，讓煙民們看上去很瘦，但實際上脂肪已經儲存在重要的生命器官周圍了。

    研究人員對老鼠進行了超過七周的實驗，其中一半的老鼠一周六天每天暴露在4支卷煙的煙霧中，而另一半則完全處在無煙環境中。

    處于煙霧中的老鼠節食23%，但是它們的脂肪量仍保持在同樣的水平上。

    戒煙組織執行主管菲奧娜•沙爾基說，現在的研究再次警告煙民他們正在危害自己的健康。

    她說，研究也推翻了他們認為吸煙燃燒脂肪并能保持苗條或者減肥的觀點。

    “肌肉群減少，讓煙民誤以為達到了“減肥”的效果”，沙爾基說。

    “你看起來瘦了，但是實際上仍在堆積脂肪，這顯然不是什么好事。”
    
    “研究正是要推翻這一誤解。”
 
    她說，脂肪會堆積在煙民的腰部及身體其他部位，比如心、肝、肺、胃等等，不利于他們的身體健康。