Apples for Health- U.S. turns back on healthy lifestyle

U.S. turns back on healthy lifestyle

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 28 (UPI) -- From 1988 to 2006, the U.S. population got fatter, exercised less, ate less produce and drank more as smoking levels stayed the same, researchers said.

Researchers at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston compared the results of two large-scale studies of the U.S. population in 1988-1994 and in 2001-2006.

In the intervening 18 years, the percentage of adults ages 40-74 with a body mass index greater than 30 increased from 28 percent to 36 percent, physical activity 12 times a month or more decreased from 53 percent to 43 percent, smoking rates remained the same from 26.9 percent to 26.1 percent, eating five or more fruit and vegetables a day decreased from 42 percent to 26 percent and moderate alcohol use increased from 40 percent to 51 percent.

The study, scheduled to be published in the June issue of The American Journal of Medicine, found the number of people adhering to all five healthy habits during the study period decreased from 15 percent to 8 percent.

The study also found that people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, or risk factors for those conditions, were no more likely to adhere to a healthy lifestyle than people without such risk factors.

For the 1988-1994 study, the sample of 7,340, represented a weighted sample size of 78,794,217, while the 2001-2006 respondents was 7,811, for a weighted sample size of 65,476,573.