Nicotine consumption for weight loss is a weight control method whereby one consumes nicotine, often in the form of tobacco, to decrease one's appetite. The practice dates to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant. Tobacco smoking was associated with appetite suppression among Pre-Columbian indigenous Americans and Old World Europeans. Tobacco companies have drawn connections between slimness and smoking in their advertisements, primarily with brands and advertisements that target women. While it is unclear how many people begin or continue smoking because of weight concerns, white female adolescents with established weight-related anxieties are particularly prone to initiate smoking. Although knowledge of nicotine's effects upon the appetite can contribute to people smoking for weight control purposes, studies have not shown that people smoke exclusively to maintain or lose weight.
Appetite suppression
Nicotine is an appetite suppressant. Nicotine could reduce appetite and influence an individual's eating habits. A study on nicotine's effects on appetite demonstrated that “net effects of nicotine include elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and gastric motility while eliciting a sustained decrease in food intake. Autonomic, sensory, and enteric neurons each constitute potentially important loci for nicotine-mediated changes in feeding behavior.” Thus, cultural associations between tobacco smoking and weight control in part reflect the body's physiological reactions to nicotine. Nicotine gum has similar effects to cigarettes in terms of appetite suppression, and there are some people who do not smoke, but use nicotine gum for the purpose of weight control or weight loss. Nicotine can lower insulin levels in a person's bloodstream, which can reduce cravings for sugary foods. Furthermore, “nicotine-triggered effects of adrenaline on the stomach’s musculature” lead to temporary feelings of subsided hunger. Other studies have shown that smokers expend more calories while engaged in activity, which echo conclusions that smokers experience heightened metabolic rates. Smoking may be conducive to greater accumulation of visceral fat and greater insulin resistance, and increases the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Whether smokers are actually thinner than nonsmokers is unclear. Some studies have shown that smokers—including long term and current smokers—weigh less than nonsmokers, and gain less weight over time. Conversely, certain longitudinal studies have not shown correlation between weight loss and smoking at least among young persons. While the connection between nicotine and appetite suppression, as well as other physiological responses to nicotine consumption, has been established, whether these chemical and biological reactions translate to smokers being thinner than nonsmokers is still debated.
Perceptions of weight control among adolescents While most adults do not smoke for weight control, studies have shown that associations between tobacco use, being thin, and desire for weight control do influence adolescents in terms of smoking behavior. Research indicated that adolescent girls that strongly value being thin are more likely to initiate smoking, and that weight loss or weight control are seen to be one of the positive values of smoking. Additionally, girls already engaged in risky behavior for weight control are at increased odds to begin smoking. Several studies have been conducted over the past decade examining this issue in depth. While it has generally been found that white females are more likely to smoke to lose weight, smoking to lose or control weight is not limited to white females, but is prevalent across racial and gender boundaries. Within all racial groups, it has been found that weight concerns and negative body perceptions are a significant factor in an adolescent's decision to smoke.In a national survey of Serbian adolescents, boys who smoked had approximately twice the odds of reporting smoking for weight loss or weight control compared with girls who smoked, indicating that smoking as a weight-control strategy among adolescents is not limited to females. Compared to white male smokers, male smokers of American Indian and Asian descent, as well as male smokers of black, Hispanic and mixed descent, smoked more frequently to lose weight or control their weight. Heavy smokers and smokers who considered themselves overweight or who were concerned about their weight, reported significantly more that they used smoking as a method of weight control.
History in advertising It was not always socially acceptable for women to smoke cigarettes or use tobacco in public. However, over the course of about fifty years, advertising campaigns orchestrated by the tobacco industry changed societal attitudes, and represented tobacco use as a desirable pastime for the female consumer in both the United States and abroad.
Pre-1920s Prior to the 1920s, smoking was largely a male pastime and was thought of as a taboo act for women to participate in. During the 19th century, smoking and cigarettes were commonly associated with loose morals and sexual promiscuity. Cigarettes came to be thought of as an occupational prop of prostitutes and sex workers, and were commonly present in Victorian-era pornography. Into the early 20th century, women faced possible arrest if they were caught smoking in public.
1920–1968 During the 1900s, women experienced upward socioeconomic mobility with the American women's rights movement as they gained new civil liberties. By the outbreak of World War I, as they experienced growing responsibility and freedom on the home front, an increasing number of women were using cigarettes as a tool to challenge traditional ideas about female behavior. However, it would ultimately be the tobacco industry's marketing influence that would turn the cigarette from a social liability into an accepted and desirable commodity for women to openly consume.
Targeting women's waistlines The President of the American Tobacco Company, Percival Hill, was one of the first tobacco executives to seek out the women's market. Noting the 1920s fashion trends for bobbed hair cuts, short skirts, and slender figures, Hill saw the potential in selling cigarettes as an appetite suppressant so that women could achieve the decade's enviably small waistlines.
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