WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Regular exercise reduces the risk of heart disease and emphysema even for people who still smoke, a New York University Medical School internist says.
Exercise also helps smokers kick the nicotine habit, said professor and author Marc Siegel in a Washington Post article.
Siegel said a growing body of research concludes that regular exercise and nutritious food seem to protect smokers from cancer and other illnesses.
"A review of several studies published in the journal Addiction in 2000 concluded that larger studies need to be done before it can be declared that exercise leads smokers to stop smoking," Siegel wrote.
Siegel cited a longtime patient who ran regularly despite ignoring Siegel's advice to quit smoking. Siegel said a particularly dire warning finally got his patient to quit cold turkey.
The doctor is the author of "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear" and the upcoming "Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic."
