Exercise, eat lots of fruits and veggies, don't drink or eat too much and don't smoke.
If there's a simple formula for basic health, that's it. Study after study reinforces this relatively simple prescription for health -- but fewer and fewer Americans are taking the advice, according to a new study by the Medical University of South Carolina-Charleston, published in the American Journal of Medicine.
The researchers looked at National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 1988-1994, and compared it to the 2001-2006 period:
* The percentage of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index greater than 30 (the threshold that defines obesity) has increased from 28% to 36%.
* Physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43%.
* Smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%).
* Eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26%.
* Moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51%.
* The number of people adhering to all 5 healthy habits has decreased from 15% to 8%.
Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment