[bsder]

> This is at about the time the obesity epidemic took off. Correlation != causation.

Average heights continued increasing through the 1980s. This suggests that a not insignificant chunk of the population was still in caloric deprivation until the 1990s. You can't get obesity while lots of people are still continuously hungry. For this one, correlation probably is causation.

In addition, smoking bans took off in the 1990s. Nicotine is a noted appetite suppressant. Correlation might be causation. You may be trading the problems of smoking for the problems of obesity--probably a decent trade.

[catigula]

Doubtful.

Smokers only gain a handful of pounds when they stop on average.

[bsder]

You're gonna have to quote something stronger about that.

In college, I knew a lot of girls who took up smoking to help get rid of the freshman fifteen. It seemed to work for the most part.