TEENAGE girls desperate to keep their weight down may be leaving themselves open to a greater health risk – because they can’t kick the cigarettes.

Now a York doctor has sent out an appeal for youngsters whose believe their smoking habit will stop them from over-eating to stub out their potentially more damaging use of tobacco.

It comes after a new study by the government’s food watchdog the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealed girls in their teens eat more unhealthily than anybody else, shunning the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables and missing out on vital nutrients.

Dr David Fair, of the Jorvik Medical Practice, said one of the problems he and other GPs had encountered as they tried to steer teenagers towards a healthier lifestyle was that they believed stopping smoking would cause them to gain weight.

He also believes teenagers need to be more aware of the problems they may be storing up for the future by not taking enough notice of their health.

“I’ve seen young girls smoking in place of eating healthily because they see cigarettes as an antidote to obesity, but this only exacerbates their potential long-term health problems,” he said. “It’s quite common for people to put weight on when they stop smoking because cigarettes have the effect of reducing a person’s appetite and taking away food cravings. Sometimes, they are also cheaper than food.

“This can be more of an issue with older people who are already overweight, but there is a balance – which is quite difficult to strike – and my advice is that it is better to stop smoking than to put a bit of extra weight on. It will still result in them being fitter and happier.”

Dr Fair also believes one of the barriers to the healthy-eating message is youngsters choosing fast-food restaurants – which he says “don’t seem to have suffered in the financial crisis” – ahead of healthier alternatives. He said: “They may be choosing this ahead of physical exercise because, again, it is cheaper than paying membership fees and buying sports kit. It’s inevitable that part of being an adolescent is that thinking about your life and health when you get older is not part of the mindset. That’s not necessarily a medical observation, but perhaps something I remember from being that age.”


We asked teenagers in York for their views

Amy Betteridge, 16, from Rawcliffe, York, said: “My mum is a food teacher, and she told me that one in five kids is obese before they reach secondary school, which means that six of a class of 30 were obese.”

Amy knows that “if you look after your body you will live longer.” She takes care to sensibly eat “everything in moderation.” She laments, however, that school food “is not nice,” and the salads on offer “don’t seem that healthy,” and when she is allowed out of school for lunch it is difficult to find healthy options to buy. She manages to “eat a healthy breakfast of grapes, apples and low-fat yoghurt” and would “eat more salad at school if they offered something more appealing like couscous.”

Jess Blake, 18, from South Dalton, is very concerned with eating healthily. She said: “I make sure to get my five a day and I do a lot of exercise, I play hockey and do running.”

Daisy Brown, 17, of Pocklington, takes care to “eat healthy food and take vitamin supplements.” She understands that exercise is important.