Popular notion holds that people who are trying to stop smoking often increase their alcohol intake as a way of compensating. A new study published in BMC Public Health, however, suggests this may not be the case.

Lead author Jamie Brown, of University College London in the United Kingdom, and colleagues found that adults who have attempted to quit smoking in the past week consume less alcohol than smokers who have not tried to quit.

While smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, with around 40 million American adults currently smoking cigarettes, 70 percent of smokers say they want to quit the habit.

As a way of helping the quitting process, health officials recommend reducing alcohol intake or abstaining from it altogether.

According to the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, drinking alcohol can act as a smoking trigger for some people, hindering their attempts to shun the cigarettes.

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