what's the greater health risk: smoking or obesity?

[UpsideDownFlag]

any DUers out there with pertinent medical knowledge?

[UpsideDownFlag]

1. c'mon, people. nobody knows anything?

or are you all asleep.

[MFUSA]

8. Try this link

articles specific to the question.

http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_Index_06_Weight_Gain.html

[Kinkistyle]

2. I vote inhaling toxic fumes.

over being abundantly well-fed. But everyone's different. Best to avoid both.

[MFUSA]

3. Hey JibJab

http://www.quitsmoking.com/syas.htm
This is a wonderful support message board.


http://www.whyquit.com/WhatsNew.html

Whyquit has any health related article you would need on this subject.
Good luck my friend

[UpsideDownFlag]

4. thanks

[NeoConsSuck]

12. Here's another one.. a heavier traffic site..

http://forums.quitnet.com/community/talk/forums.jtml

[troublemaker]

5. Roughly the same. (Smoking a little worse.)

No links, just my impression of recent news items

[blackcat77]

6. I used to be skinny and smoke, now I don't smoke and I'm fat

And I didn't die either way... :eyes:

[UpsideDownFlag]

7. obesity can lead to adult onset diabetes and other health problems

we all know what smoking does. my question was, is there a way to tell if either is worse?

[MFUSA]

10. According to these articles

and Medical Science, YES smoking is worse.

[eridani]

13. No, genetic tendency to Type II can lead to obesity

You have it ass backwards.

[RebelOne]

16. That's not true.

My mother, along with all her sisters, had Type II diabetes, and not one of them was fat. I have that tendency also, as the doctor told me I am pre-diabetic and I am not fat.

[eridani]

17. That's because you have a different form of the disease

If you are insulin resistant, and your response to that is to compensate by ramping up insulin production to really high levels, this promotes weight gain.

If you don't compensate for resistance that way, you don't gain weight. That's about 10% of Type IIs, though.

[seabeyond]

9. both equally increase chances of heart attack

then each of the two create their own increase in chance of other disease. they are equally unhealthy.

the most unhealthy...............judgement, wink

[Djinn]

11. depends what you mean

for individuals or for societies? for individuals again it depends - smoking one ciggie a week is probably better for you than being heavilly overweight, smoking a pack a day is worse for you than being a few kilos overweight.

Societies (in the western developed nations) probably have more dramas long term with obesity - taxes on cigarettes atleast help to offset slightly the cost of treatment for smoking related diseases whereas there is no similar "sin" tax on food stuffs.

The developing world has higher proportions of smokers (and less obesity) so it's a different kettle of fish there.

There is also the problem of determining whether someone's lung cancer (for example) is a result of them having smoked at some point in their life of a result of living next to a busy six lane highway.

It's not the sort of question that's readilly answered

[Sugarbleus]

14. STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS n/t

[mykpart]

15. As a former fat smoker,

I posed this question to my doctor several years ago. He said both are bad, but if you had to choose, it's better to be a fat non-smoker than a skinny smoker. I've been a fat non-smoker for 3 years now, and I think I may be ready to tackle the food addiction now.

[leftofthedial]

18. bushgang whistleblower

[TheGreatestShow]

19. smoking

To the individual smoking is worse because of the boat loads of carcinogens, but as a society obesity is worse. they have even taken steps to decrease obesity in my school district

[ChocolateSaltyBalls]

20. Smoking.............

is the single worst thing one can do to one's self.

Period.

[InkAddict]

21. Don't care as long as I'm out of here

before Alzheimer's hits.