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Prognosis: In Smoking, Research Finds, Cutting Back Won't Do 

Smokers who say they just can’t quit are sometimes told to at least cut down. But even if they reduce their intake by half or more, they are unlikely to see much benefit, a new study reports.

The study, which appears in the journal Tobacco Control, followed the health of more than 50,000 Norwegian smokers over more than two decades. . . .

“In health education and patient counseling,” the researchers wrote, “it may give people false expectations to advise that reduction in consumptions is associated with reduction in harm.”

They did say that cutting back probably had value as an interim step to quitting smoking.

It is unclear why those who cut back did not seem to be healthier. One possibility, the study said, is that to compensate for the cigarettes they give up, smokers inhale smoke more deeply and smoke more of each cigarette.

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