"...it has been bittersweet for researchers to discover that, actually, our successful campaigns to reduce smoking may play a role in the growing obesity epidemic."

The Surprising Link Between Obesity And A Smoke-Free America

Public health requires a delicate, and sometimes impossible, balance.

"Smoking is just about the worst thing you can do for your health. It can cause cancer pretty much all over your body, tooth and gum loss, stillbirth, premature death, and many other awful things. 

It’s for these reasons that it has been bittersweet for researchers to discover that, actually, our successful campaigns to reduce smoking may play a role in the growing obesity epidemic.

After the 1964 Surgeon General’s report confirmed that, yes, smoking does cause cancer, the number of tobacco-toking Americans rapidly declined. As of 2014, 16 percent of high school students and adults smoked, down from 42.4 percent in 1964.

Obesity, on the other hand, has more than doubled in a similar time period. Two-thirds of adults in America were overweight or obese — 68.6 percent — as of 2012."