Here’s one more crucial reason why obesity rates have exploded by a staggering 5.5 million during the past year alone in America: Most people do understand how they need to maintain and optimize their cardiovascular health, but more are talking the talk, than doing the real walking, according to a new study.
Researchers tracked and compared the health data on more than 15,000 people (ages 40-74) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988-94 and 2001-06. During the span of nearly two decades, many major indicators of good health — exercise, eating habits, overall healthy habits — fell sharply. Even more sobering, folks with a history of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes were no more willing to follow improved health habits than those who didn’t suffer from them.
By the numbers:
1. Consumption of five or more vegetables daily dropped 16 percent.
2. The number of smokers stayed almost the same.
3. Moderate alcohol use rose 11 percent.
4. The average body mass index (BMI) of patients increased 8 percent.
5. Physical activity (12 or more times a month) fell 10 percent.
The worst and potentially most fatal statistic of the bunch: The number of participants in the study who maintained a healthy lifestyle based on the parameters listed above plummeted by nearly half to 8 percent.
American Journal of Medicine, Vol. 122, No. 6, p. 493-494
