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Life at 12 mph home Life at 12 mph IN THE NEWS
Study Finds Just 3% in US Meet Healthy Lifestyle Standard WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Only 3% of Americans lead a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and eating five or more fruits and vegetables daily, according to new research released Monday. The study, led by a researcher at Michigan State University, measured four factors that are considered indicators of a "healthy" lifestyle that, if followed would sharply cut the risk for developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. It's believed to be the first study that has looked broadly at the U.S. population to measure various healthy lifestyle characteristics. The study is being published in the Monday's edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers found that 76% of Americans don't smoke and that 40.1% maintain a healthy weight. But only 23.3% eat the minimum recommended amount of five daily servings of fruits and vegetables and 22.2% exercise for at least 30 minutes five times a week. Taken together, only 3% of Americans hit all four indictors of a healthy lifestyle. Another 13.8% hit three of the four indicators and 34.2% had two of the four indictors. Mathew J. Reeves, the lead researcher and an epidemiologist at Michigan State, said he was "shocked" by the results, which were compiled using survey data of more than 150,000 Americans by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's pretty remarkable," he said. "It's really just a basic lifestyle pattern. We aren't asking anyone to climb Mount Everest here." Reeves said he would have expected to find that up to 15% of Americans were hitting all four healthy lifestyle points, which he refers to as the "healthy lifestyle index." He said alcohol consumption was left out of the study because there isn't widespread agreement in the public health arena over its health risks and benefits. He explained that not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, and eating lots of fruits and vegetables have been shown in multiple studies to reduce risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. "We'd have a different country in terms of health and finances," he said, if more Americans lived a healthy lifestyle, adding that the U.S. spends about $1.5 trillion annually in health-care costs. The study looked at various demographic groups and found that those with higher incomes and a college education did slightly better. Overall, 4.2% of women hit the four healthy lifestyle indicators, while only 1.9% of men did so. Among households with incomes of $75,000 or more annually, 5.1% of people led a healthy lifestyle, while 5.0% of college graduates achieved that distinction. The study showed that 1.9% of high school graduates reported living a healthy lifestyle, compared with 3.2% of people who reported some college education. Among age, people ages 35 to 44 faired the worst, with 2.5% reporting that they hit all four healthy lifestyle indicators; while those aged 65 and older did the best, with 4.0% saying they led a healthy lifestyle. By race, 3.3% of white non-Hispanics reported meeting the four healthy lifestyle factors, compared with 1.4% of black non-Hispanics and 2.3% of Hispanics. -By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9294; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com 04-25-05 1629ET |