I have a question once again for those 'experts' in tobacco and smoking. I've encountered a client who is being told by her physician that smoking increases your metabolic rate and therefore acts as a weight maintanence mechanism. That is why therefore that many women and some men gain considerable weight when they quit even if eating health and exercising. I haven't heard this. I know that it increases your heart rate, and that in many circumstances replaces health eating and when people quit they tend to gain for those reasons. I'd like to be able to give my client the best possible information without necessarily contradicting her physician. Has anyone ever hear this? - is it a fact? Sherri Ross, Health Promotion Coordinator