Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993 TAG: 9303120038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
HABITS GROWING UNHEALTHY
America's health habits have taken a turn for the worse since the 1980s, with fewer people following good diets, getting exercise and keeping slim, a Harris survey shows."Quite likely the healthy lifestyles of the past decade were just a passing fad, like hula hoops," Humphrey Taylor, president of Louis Harris and Associates polling service, said Thursday.
He was joined by Dr. James S. Todd, executive vice president of the American Medical Association, who said the latest findings in the annual survey of U.S. health habits are "terribly disturbing."
Taylor said the survey shows Americans retreating from the better eating habits that seemed to have been taking hold in the 1980s. Instead, people are eating more of the bad things, such as excessive fat and salt, and fewer of the healthy things, such as more vegetables and foods rich in fiber.
There was good news for health experts, however. Taylor said that, since the survey was first taken in 1983, behavior improved in areas enforced by laws:
Car seat belt use has increased by 51 percentage points, from 19 percent in 1983 to 70 percent last year.
Use of home smoke detectors has increased from 67 percent in 1983 to 90 percent last year.
Cigarette smoking continued its downward trend, the survey showed, with 24 percent saying they smoked, down six percentage points since 1983.
Alcohol use also was down. Forty percent of those surveyed said they never drank, compared with 34 percent in 1983.
People who never drink and drive have increased from 68 percent to 83 percent.
Food sales records support the survey findings on poor nutrition, Taylor said.
Among those surveyed:
53 percent ate the recommended amounts of fibrous foods and vegetables, compared with 59 percent in 1983.
Fat was avoided by 51 percent, compared with 55 percent in 1983.
Excess salt was avoided by 46 percent, compared with 53 percent in 1983.
Taylor said there also was a slight decrease in regular exercise.
All of this, he said, is leading to an overweight nation: "Americans continue to get fatter. We are the fattest nation on Earth."
The survey found 66 percent of those questioned were overweight, compared with 58 percent in 1983. Only 17 percent were within the recommended weight range, compared with 23 percent in 1983, and 17 percent were underweight, compared with 18 percent a decade earlier.
"For the doctors in the country, this report is terribly disturbing," Todd said. "It means Americans are not willing to accept responsibly for their own well being."
The survey is paid for by Baxter International, a maker of health-care products. The margin of error for the survey was plus or minus three points.