A program designed to promote cardiovascular health in children may have actually enticed children to try smoking. The program was called Heart/Health, and it targeted children in grades four to six at eight Montreal-area elementary schools.

An impact assessment study shows the initiative had a positive effect on physical activity and the maintenance of a healthy body weight.

However, Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin says exposure to the program is also being linked with a higher incidence of smoking in the schools. O'Loughlin, a professor in the department of epidemiology at McGill University, says the assessment study indicates the children may have been too young to properly digest the information.

O'Loughlin also says the program may have backfired because it was not suited to the multi-ethnic low-income background of many of the children.

"Smoking is very prevalent in this environment. About 40 - 45 percent of parents are smoking. They're still seeing their teachers smoke in the schools," O'Loughlin says.

"They can buy cigarettes in the local depanneurs. So it's very easy and accessible in their environment. The program might have increased their curiosity about cigarettes. They're unable to invoke resistance skills and therefore they tried that first puff."

O'Loughlin says the program was based on guidelines issued by expert committees such as the centres for disease control, the National Cancer Institute and the Institute of Medicine.