Smoking Acutely Increases Plasma Ghrelin Concentrations

Smoking and smoking cessation are associated with weight changes (1), and many smokers give weight gain as a primary reason for not trying to quit smoking (2). A relationship has been reported between smoking and plasma concentrations of ghrelin, a 28-amino acid growth hormone–releasing peptide secreted mainly by the stomach (3)(4)(5). Our primary aim was to determine whether smoking has an acute effect on plasma ghrelin concentrations.We enrolled 36 healthy volunteers, 28 men [mean (SD) age, 28.4 (7.5) years] and 8 women [30.4 (9.8) years]; 26 volunteers were smokers and 10 were nonsmokers. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of our institution, and informed, written consent was obtained from each participant. None of the individuals had a history of gastric surgery or any serious health problems. Smoking history and body mass index (BMI) were determined for all participants. Blood samples were collected …