ATLANTA — Quitting smoking can turn back time. A year after kicking the habit, smokers’ arteries showed signs of reversing a problem that can set the stage for heart disease, according to the first big study to test this.
The improvement came even though smokers gained an average of 9 pounds after they quit. Their levels of good cholesterol improved, too.
“A lot of people are afraid to quit smoking because they’re afraid to gain weight,” said the study’s leader, Dr. James Stein, a University of Wisconsin-Madison cardiologist.
The new research shows that these people gain a health benefit even though they pick up pounds that hopefully can be shed, he said.
Results were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The Associated Press
