New York Janice Hopkins Tanne
Americans hear four good health rules: don�t smoke, maintain a normal weight, eat fruit and vegetables, and get some exercise. But almost nobody follows them.
A study of national data has shown that only 3% of Americans followed all four of the recommended rules. Women, older people, white people, better educated people, people in good health, and wealthier people did a little bit better in following the rules. Younger people were slightly better at maintaining a body mass index of 25 or less (Archives of Internal Medicine 2005;165:854-7).
�The effect of a healthy lifestyle is huge. We could eliminate the vast majority of chronic disease by following a healthy lifestyle,� said Matthew Reeves, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at Michigan State University. Dr Reeves said that doctors could use his study to help patients change their habits by asking, �Are you one of the 3%?� Then doctors could guide patients in simple ways to incorporate 10 more minutes of exercise three times a day into their schedule or to include a few more fruits and vegetables in their meals.
Dr Reeves used data collected annually from the behavioural risk factor surveillance system sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which, for many years, has surveyed people annually in all US states. His study was based on information collected from more than 153
People were asked and graded yes or no on four counts: whether they smoked, maintained a healthy weight (body mass index of 25 or less), ate five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and took regular exercise (30 minutes "
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