> Smokers are less likely to be obese Yes, but if you have a choice between being a normal body weight and being a non-smoker, you should choose the latter. In

> Smokers are less likely to be obese Yes, but if you have a choice between being a normal body weight and being a non-smoker, you should choose the latter. In fact, the effect is so strong that it has a distorting effect on the correlation between low body weight and health. If you don't filter smokers out of your analysis, it can look like being overweight is not bad for you, or even slightly positive. See e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27423262/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27423262/ > Seems like this is more about pushing morals than promoting long and worthwhile lives. Maybe it's both?