Daily HealthBeat Tip

Smoking like the stars

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Ever come out of a movie feeling like one of the characters? Well, movies can leave a strong impression. And a researcher thinks they may influence kids to smoke.

Dr. James Sargent of Dartmouth Medical School and his colleagues checked out smoking in 532 movies. They also surveyed more than 65-hundred 10- to-14-year-olds, asking if the teens had seen the movies � and if the teens smoked. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in the journal Pediatrics.

Sargent says teens who saw the most smoking were over two and a half times more likely to smoke than were teens who saw the least smoking:

"It's our opinion that movies are a major � perhaps the major primary risk factor for starting to smoke." (six seconds)

Sargent advises parents to limit the number of movies their kids see.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 7, 2005

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