Active Living Program News
Only 3% of U.S. Adults Lead a Healthy Life
Despite research and public health recommendations that emphasize the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle, a recent study shows that a small minority of Americans succeed in meeting physical activity and healthy eating goals. The researchers label our excessive caloric intake, inadequate leisure-time physical activity, increasing obesity, and high rates of tobacco use as a “health promotion crisis.” These findings stress the need for preventive measures to help people lead healthy lifestyles.
A study released April 25, 2005, in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that only 3% of the population meet the definition of a healthy lifestyle: do not smoke, eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, exercise regularly, and maintain a healthy weight. The researchers collected data from more than 150,000 adults across the United States.
The researchers found that 76% of the adults in the study did not smoke, 40.1% maintained a healthy weight, 23.3% said they ate at least five fruits and vegetables daily, and 22.2% exercised at least five times a week. When they combined all four factors, a mere 3% of the group met all four criteria for a healthy lifestyle.
Study coauthor Mathew J. Reeves, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Michigan State University, said, “If you want to say, ‘How do I best maximize my quality of life and longevity, reduce my disease risk, and reduce medical expenses?’—you would lead this sort of lifestyle. Don’t smoke, don’t be overweight, exercise regularly and eat right—it’s exactly what your grandmother has been telling you for 50 years.”
Reeves and Ann P. Rafferty, from the Michigan Department of Community Health, believe their research can be useful for health professionals in counseling individual patients about healthy lifestyles. They hope the data can be used to help reduce the number of risk factors for chronic disease in the general population and help find comprehensive solutions for prevention.
Sources
Reeves, Mathew J, and Ann P. Rafferty. Healthy lifestyle characteristics among adults in the United States, 2000. Archives of Internal Medicine 2005; 165: 854-857.
Reinberg, Steven. Few in U.S. living healthy lifestyles. MSN Health and Fitness. April 25, 2005: articles.health.msn.com.
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