http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=8287343

Few U.S. Adults Lead Healthy Lives

By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A paltry number of Americans follow four basic
rules of health living -- don't smoke, eat well, exercise regularly, and
maintain a healthy weight, according to new study findings released Monday.

After surveying more than 150,000 adults, Michigan researchers found that
only three percent said they maintained these healthy habits.

Lead author Dr. Mathew J. Reeves of Michigan State University in East
Lansing told Reuters Health he expected that a minority of adults would keep
up all habits, "but three percent was really quite surprising."

He explained that there are probably a number of reasons why the vast
majority of Americans don't follow their doctors' orders. People are busy,
live in environments more conducive to driving everywhere than walking or
biking, and may lack information about the dangers of unhealthy habits,
Reeves suggested.

But likely the biggest reason is the "current cultural norm" to live
unhealthy lives, he said. "If most people around you are overweight, and
don't exercise and eat mostly fast food, then it's very hard to see the need
to change the way you are living," Reeves noted.

To investigate how healthy Americans are, Reeves and his co-author Dr. Ann
P. Rafferty reviewed data collected from 153,000 adults as part of a
telephone survey.

The researchers noted how many people didn't smoke, ate at least five fruits
and vegetables every day, exercised for at least 30 minutes five or more
times per week, and had a healthy body mass index (BMI), defined as weight
in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A healthy BMI is
between 18.5 and 25.

Among the surveyed adults, 76 percent didn't smoke and 40 percent had
maintained a healthy weight.

However, less than one quarter ate at least five fruits and vegetables
daily, or exercised on a regular basis.

Altogether, only three percent of surveyed adults maintained all four of
these healthy habits, the authors report in the Archives of Internal
Medicine.

Reeves said that research shows being healthy can add years to your life,
slash medical expenses, cut your risk of heart disease, and generally
improve your quality of life.

"It really does matter that so many people are not taking the most basic
steps to leading a healthy lifestyle," he said. "We should be aware of what
we are giving up."

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, April 25, 2005.

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