Open randomised trial of intermittent very low energy diet together with nicotine gum for stopping smoking in women who gained weight in previous attempts to quit

Objective To determine whether attempts to prevent weight gain will increase success rates for stopping smoking. Design 16 week, open, randomised study with I year follow up, Setting Obesity unit. Subjects 287 female smokers who had quit smoking before but started again because of weight concerns. Intervention Combination of a standard smoking cessation programme with nicotine gum and a behavioural weight control programme including a very low energy diet. A control group was treated with the identical programme but without the diet. Main outcome measure Sustained cessation of smoking. Results After 16 weeks, 68/137 (50%) women had stopped smoking in the diet group versus 53/150 (35%) in the control group (P = 0.01). Among these women, weight fell by mean 2.1 (95% confidence interval 2.9 to 1.3) kg in the diet group but increased by 1.6 (0.9 to 2.3) kg in die control group (P < 0.001). After 1 year the success rates in the diet and control groups were 38/137 (28%) and 24/150 (16%) respectively (P < 0.05), but: there tvas no statistical difference in weight gain. Conclusions Combining the smoking cessation programme with an intervention to control weight helped women to stop smoking and control weight.