Food consumption patterns among adolescent and young adult smokers

Abstract

Smoking is a major determinant in the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Mortality statistics pinpoint smoking as the second leading cause of death worldwide, and the primary cause of both preventable and premature death. Despite evidence accumulated on its health hazards, smoking remains a widespread practice.1 Of particular concern is the high and steady prevalence of smoking among youngsters. Beside the acute health problems specific to premature tobacco use, those who start smoking in early life have an amplified risk of becoming addicted, turning into heavy smokers and dying prematurely.1 Like smoking, unhealthy eating habits are associated with noncommunicable disease.3 Diets rich in fat, salt and free sugars and low in fruit, vegetables and complex carbohydrates are considered to increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.4 Failure to eat breakfast is also unfavourable, as it compromises the possibility of adequate daily intake of energy, vitamins and minerals essential for physical and cognitive development in youth. Since the early 1990s, different studies have revealed that smokers tend to adopt unhealthy diets that exacerbate the risk of chronic disease,5,6 calling for conjugate preventive actions. In reflection, this study aimed to examine whether the denounced combination of toxic behaviours persisted in Belgium after a decade of awareness-raising signals from the scientific field. Hence, it tackled the question of the extent to which eating habits differed according to smoking status among late adolescents and young adults, when behavioural patterns develop and settle. It was hypothesized that young smokers were less likely to eat breakfast, fruit and vegetables compared with never-smokers, and a gradient reflecting increased risk of unhealthy diet in heavier smokers was anticipated.