A recent study found that ex-smokers have a greater risk of developing diabetes than smokers or nonsmokers. Weight gain is not a result of giving up the use of tobacco, but statistics show that the average ex-smoker gains from five to ten pounds during the immediate period following cessation.

Previous studies showed that smoking raises the risk of diabetes, but new research indicates that at least in the short term, kicking the habit increases the risk even more.

Researchers advised smokers who plan to quit to be very cautious not to start consuming more and in this manner gain weight, said epidemiologist Hsin-Chieh Yeh of Johns Hopkins University. But the most significant message, she said, is "don't begin to smoke in the first place."

Yeh and her colleagues investigated 10,892 middle-aged adults who planed to determine their risk of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. None of them had diabetes when they started investigation between 1987 and 1989. Most were studied for a period of nine years, and 1,254 developed Type 2 diabetes, usually bound with obesity and described by the body's reduced ability to use insulin.

At the end of investigation researchers found that smokers had about a 40% higher risk of contracting diabetes than those who had never smoked.

But is amazing because they observed that the risk rose when smokers quit, peaking at about a 70% increased risk in the first three years after quitting, then decreasing to usual risk after 10 years. For example those who quit smoking gained about 8.4 pounds during the three-year period and had a waist size increase of 1 1/4 inches.

Researchers also observed that the more weight they gained, and the longer they had been smoking, the higher their risk of developing diabetes was.

The team is not sure why the risk in the end fell back to normal after 10 years, Yeh declared. Unfortunately researchers did not measure the patients' weights at that time, so they don't know whether they lost weight or if some other agents were involved.

She also accentuated that smokers should not use the findings as a pretext to keep smoking because the risks of increased heart disease, strokes and cancer connected to smoking far outweigh the small increase in risk for diabetes.

Former smokers need for more physical exercises for to prevent weight gain, this is the main escape to prevent diabetes.