Stopping smoking would mean an average of 4.7 kilograms. * 2013 study by a group of researchers at the University Hospital Zurich.

For the purposes of a study; researchers have studied the genetic makeup of bacteria in the faeces of twenty people for nine weeks. The panel consisted of five smokers, five non-smokers, and ten smokers who started smoking cessation one week prior to the start of the study.

Smoking cessation alters intestinal flora

While the composition of the intestinal flora of smokers and non-smokers has changed little during these nine weeks of study, that of people weaning has, meanwhile, underwent major changes.

In fact, the microbes of the proteobacteria and bacteroidetes strains developed in these former smokers, to the detriment of the firmicutes and actinomycetes-type microbes. This change in the intestinal flora resembled, according to researchers, that of obese people. People who stopped smoking took an average of 2.2 kilograms throughout the duration of this study, without changing their diet.

For Professor Gerhard Rogler, author of the study, the results of this research confirm those of a previous experiment conducted on mice. The researchers then transplanted obese mouse excrement into non-obese mice. They had obtained the same results. According to Professor Gerhard Rogler, "the composition of the intestinal flora that is modified at the beginning of weaning partly explains the weight gain of ex-smokers".

* 2013 study, conducted by a group of researchers from the University Hospital Zurich.