Samplings of 3,000 adolescents ages 13 to 18 found 80 percent of those who played a sport did not smoke. This compared to 71.4 percent of physically inactive adolescents, reported researchers of the University of Granada, the Spanish National Research Council, the Universities of Murcia, Zaragoza and Cantabria and the Nuestra Senora de la Consolacion School of Granada. Their findings, summarized in a press release, are being published in the journal Nutricion Hospitalaria.

Their percentages reportedly compared with similar studies of adolescents done in the United States. In the Spanish scientists' opinion, results show the importance of promoting physical activity and eradicating tobacco consumption among youth as part of dealing with obesity, diabetes, coronary disease, osteoporosis and cancer. As physical activity decreases among adolescents as they get older, tobacco consumption increases, researchers said.