Healthy habits on the decline in the U.S.

Exercise regularly. Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Maintain a healthy weight. Don't smoke. Drink alcohol in moderation.

How often have you heard these health messages? Hundreds of times, I'd wager. Now, how often have you heard these messages and actually made changes to your life? If you're like most Americans, probably not too often. According to a new study published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Medicine, few adults ages 40 to 74 have adopted these basic health-promoting habits—and their numbers are dropping.

Researchers gathered data on people's health behaviors from a large survey called NHANES (short for National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey). NHANES regularly polls thousands of Americans about their eating habits, levels of exercise, history of smoking and many other health markers. Participants also have a physical exam.

Using this data, researchers compared people's adherence to these five healthy habits during two time periods: 1988 to 1994, and 2001 to 2006. Overall, adherence was far from stellar. But perhaps most alarming was the drop in healthy habits over the study's 18-year span. Here's a summary:

• Exercising 12 or more times a month: This dropped from 53 percent of adults exercising regularly to 43 percent.
• Eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day: This dropped from 42 percent of adults to 26 percent.
• Maintaining a healthy weight: The percentage of obese adults rose from 28 percent to 36 percent.
• Smoking: This didn't change over the study period, with around 26 percent of adults smoking.
• Drinking alcohol in moderation: This increased from 40 percent to 51 percent of adults. Moderate alcohol consumption was defined as up to one drink a day for women and up to two for men. This is considered a healthy level, so this was a positive trend.
• Adhering to all five healthy habits: This dropped from 15 percent of adults to only 8 percent.

The researchers also looked separately at people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or risk factors for these conditions. These are all health problems that can be improved by adopting a healthier lifestyle, so you might expect this group would be more likely to adhere to these habits. Surprisingly, the study found otherwise, with no real difference between the groups.

This study has some weakness, such as relying on people to self-report what they ate and how much they exercised, and it didn't look at other factors that can affect health, such as intake of salt, fat, and certain nutrients. But as a snapshot of people's lifestyles through the lens of these basic habits, it should be fairly accurate. And the picture isn't pretty.

What you need to know. So why are we living less healthy lives, even as more studies show the benefits of doing otherwise? That's a tough one. The researchers mention a couple trends that may be playing a role, such as people exercising less because they're driving more. But other factors are undoubtedly at work here as well. This made me wonder: Have we heard certain health advice so often that we no longer really hear it? And how can these basic health messages become more compelling, so that people take notice and take action to change to their lives for the better? Any thoughts?

—Sophie Ramsey, patient editor

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

Read more on how simple lifestyle changes can reduce health risks and take a look at the 10 health perks of exercise.

Comments

[Bertlogon]

I'm not sure where you are buying, but here in Poway,CA fruits and vegies at the local Farmers market are ALWAYS more expensive (and most are not even certified organic).It's a drag because I enjoy the people and the experience, but if I watch the ads at the 5 major local grocers, I can always buy my selection of fruits and vegetables for at least a third less.

As for the cost of vegetables, fresh is great, but fresh vegies are more expensive and a good deal more work to prepare, especially if you are washing them as thoroughly as you should to minimize the effects of pesticides, residual E-coli etc. SO DON"T POO POO the frozen deals. Again, watch the ads and stock up when the deals are good. Easier to prepare and, in most cases, just as healthy.

ENJOY THE DAY! It's all we really have.

[Herb Wall]

We just received your book "The Best of Health" today and I am very concerned about your response to one of the questions asked. The person asked about the product 'Juice Plus'.

It seems you used information from 1 study (which in itself was not bad). However the product has been out since 1993 and for years there have been many 'INDEPENDENT' studies done by Doctors and Universities around the world. These studies have covered many different aspects as they relate to the health of the human body. And the results of these studies have been phenominal.

We really like and use Consumer Reports and thank you for all the good information you make available to us. But in the case of Juice Plus I sincerely believe you have a lot more reliable information available to you. And again the information is from independent studies and not studies conducted by the company.

There is no question that the best possible nutrition will come from eating raw, fresh fruits and vegetables. However as many have stated it is very difficult and expensive to eat the recommended amount. And when that is the situation then the next best thing is very likely 'Juice Plus' especially considering the research.

[Sydney Johnston]

This is incredibly sad. Most of the diseases of today have been proven to have a direct correlation to lifestyle, yet we wait until we're sick and then take drugs with often terrible side effects, expecting them to "fix" the problem. The raging debate over national health care misses the most critical point of all: prevention. By adopting healthy habits we can avoid most, if not all, of these expensive, terrible diseases that wreck so many lives. I guess we never think it will happen to us? Then, looking at it from the societal point of view, we have millions of people who have neglected their health and get sick - then expect 'society' (that's you and me) to pay for their treatment.

[eric]

Fruits and vegetables are NOT that expensive - especially if you buy from a local farmer's market. But not even that much in a store. good grief! Buying ORGANIC fruits and vegetables is mostly a waste since there are very few regulations on such stuff - as CR has pointed out. Maybe some people need to prioritize their life a little: live in a smaller house, have less expenses, etc - then certains types of jobs won't be necessary. Americans tend to complain a lot about not being able to do things, when at the same time they are trying to "keep up with the Jones'" like no one else on earth. How many SUVs are you driving? How big is your house? How new are your clothes? Eating out is ALWAYS more expensive than preparing food at home (including w/ fruits and veggies). Fast food or not.

[bea baylen]

eating healthy food like fruits, meet and other are important with our health. US government should prioritize this issue.

[Sheila Joyce Gibbs]

New release this past February in North America, both USA & Canada, stated that for stiff alcoholic beverages (not wine or beer),
the moderate amount is no longer 1-2 per day for men or women, but rather 1-2 per WEEK for men or women.
There are current 5 severe permenant health afflictions, solely caused from alcohol. They are, in no particular order:
-Grand Mal Seizures
-Rapidly Progressive Blindness
-Rapidly Progressive Deafness
-Rapidly Corroded Livers
-Heart Attacks
None with any forewarning signs, nor any cures at this date !

We need our Governments to legislate mandatory health warning labels, on all liquor containers ! Otherwise, what in the name of all that is Holy, will happen to our youth ?
Just this April, a survey taken in the USA in University's found that 7.3 MILLION students admitted to consuming alcohol daily. Now, just think of what the truth is !

May God help us all.

[E. Nowak]

My husband is an electrical engineer. The past 20 years of his career he has seen many of the jobs (and technology) in his field being shipped to Asia. He has never been laid off, but has worked for several companies because his divisions keep getting sold off when they don't make the necessary profits to satisfy Wall Street's greedy expectations. Those divisions end up going to company's whose only concern seems to be draining the company of its assets and demoralizing the workers with stagnant pay. He then has to find another job with another company and the cycle starts all over. Not to mention that he and his fellow engineers (who do not have MBA's but do the "real work") have to compete with low-paid engineers from Asia and imported engineers with special visas who the company can legally pay much less than their fellow American engineers. Their pay has stagnated.

On top of that, every year for the past ten years, his company has charged him more and more for his portion of health insurance and required him to pay a substantial share of health care costs through co-pays and deductibles.

Two years ago, he thought he finally had found a good job with a European automotive electronic parts manufacturer with a division here in the US. (You know what's coming.) This year he is about to take his second pay cut (not to mention being forced to take two weeks of unpaid vacation, and the elimination of his 401K matching). And even still, there are lay-offs being dangled over his head by his company. So we've had to cut back on a lot this year, is an understatement. We've had to cut back for the past three years.

Oh -- and I forgot that all these jobs changes and with the housing market the way it is -- he also has a one hour commute each day.

The first to go has been buying organic foods. While some might argue that organic foods may not really have a direct substantial impact on health, I believe that they have a huge positive impact on the quality of life for farmers and a positive impact on the environment -- which DOES have a impact on the overall health of society.

We're still buying veggies and fruit (which is very expensive and difficult to prepare and cook) and going to the gym (which is very expensive and not easy to do), but my husband is just plain stressed out. He is a stress eater, so he wants to eat a lot more fast food. Even though I know it's not good for him, I find myself saying yes because they are convenient and cheap, and I can't bear to argue with a guy who's under this much stress.

I know that Consumer Reports is doing a lot to improve society, but it really drives me crazy when I read articles like this. American society expects the individual to take on more and more of the "load" that our parents' generation never had to. And now, when we are stressed out to the max, we are being told that despite these stressers, we SHOULDN'T stop eating our veggies and exercising. Even though it's expensive and time consuming!

If you want us to eat our fruits and veggies and work-out, for heaven's sake, get laws passed to make those things cheaper for the average American! Tax fast food joints and soda, and give tax breaks to organic farmers that produce food that is fresh and good for us, and give us a tax credit for health memberships.

I am tired of society wagging it's finger at the individual all the while dangling big macs in our faces!!

[K]

We don't have time for all that crap. We're commuting longer to work, trying to hold onto employment, maybe working extra hours, we move further from family support networks to follow the jobs, we're buying cheap food to save money, cutting out disposable expenses like gym memberships (that we don't have time to use anyway) or exercise equipment, and we're smoking, eating, and drinking to stave off all the stress that results from all this.

The countries with the healthiest population are the ones where the governments make human services a priority. This ain't one of them.