Luo J, et al. - Researchers examined the influence of physical activity (PA) on weight gain after smoking cessation in postmenopausal women. They followed a total of 4,717 baseline smokers from the Women's Health Initiative for 3 years and identified 1,282 women who quit smoking, and 3,435 who continued smoking. Compared with continuing smokers, quitters displayed a weight gain by an average of 3.5 kg between the baseline and year 3 visit. Data demonstrated that postmenopausal women displayed attenuation in the weight gain after quitting smoking even with a modest increase in PA (equivalent to current recommendations). This effect was especially evident in combination with an improved diet.