Americans Following Unhealthier Lifestyles Despite Public Campaigns
Analysis of two large-scale studies has shown that Americans today are following less healthy lifestyles than two decades ago - despite an increasing number of public health campaigns.
The Medical University of South Carolina compared the studies, covering the period between 1988 to 2006, and found several indications that lifestyles were becoming less healthy in five key areas.
The study will appear in the American Journal of Medicine later in the month. BBC News reported these findings:
- The percentage of adults aged 40 to 74 with a BMI of 30+ rose from 28% to 36%.
- The number of people exercising three or more times per week fell from 53% to 43%.
- Smoking levels remained about the same.
- Moderate drinking increased slightly.
- The number of people getting five portions of fruit and veg per day fell by nearly 40%.
And, the total number of people hitting all five healthy habits dropped from 15% to 8%.
The study's lead author, Dana King wrote:
(This) demonstrates that the amount of emphasis by the current health system on prevention and healthy lifestyles may be insufficient.
With so many public health campaigns (such as calorie counts on restaurant menus and new exercise guidelines), does America need to do more?
Perhaps without these health campaigns, we'd have seen an even greater increase in unhealthy lifestyles over the past two decades - a scary thought.
Clearly much work still needs to be done. What would you do to remedy the situation?
A full text version of the research article is available upon request via.
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Charge higher premiums for health and life insurance for people with body mass index over 30.
As it is now, most people aren't willing to adopt a healhy lifestyle because the pay-off is so far in the future they can't see it. By the same token, the penalty for an unhealthy lifestyle doesn't hit until it's too late to prevent the associated diseases and premature death.
Paying higher premiums now, for those who are obese, reminds them that there is indeed a price to be paid for unhealthy lifestyles.
This idea is not radical. Smokers are charged more for life and health insurance already.
As a bonus, premiums would go down for slender people who make the effort to stay healthy.
You can't tie premiums to alcohol consumption, fruit and veggie consumption, or exercising because it's too easy to game the system (i.e., lie).
-Steve
ReplyDr. Steve,
Instead of charging higher health premiums why doesnt the goverment tax all fast food, deep fried food, meat, icecream etc, at a much higher rate. Tabacco and Alcohol is taxed so heavily in Canada and Australia. And they have free health care. Make people pay a sin tax on unhealthy food and put the collected money into the hospitals so all can bennifit. If a person is fat and poor it is more civilized to give that person medical treatment without questions. Just my uneducated opinion.
ReplyPeople have different ideas about what keeps you healthy. I use high-fat diets (70-80% of calories) to control my weight and improve my general health. I would be very angry if the government decided to tax meat and made my job harder.
ReplyFor one thing, because taxes take money from people against their will and are a government intrusion into everyone's daily life.
The people in Australia or Canada might want to be slaves to their health care system's need to control costs. Americans don't. This is the land of the free. Or at least it was until recently.
ReplySo instead your average American is a slave to a private health insurance company, a.k.a. a for-profit corporation who ultimately answers to its stock holders regarding why it has or has not made a profit. How's that any better?
ReplyIt's 100% completely voluntary. If they don't do things to your satisfaction, you may choose another provider.
ReplyBut other than paying your own medical fees 100%--which is basically impossible in a world where so much technology that has come to dominate medical care must be financially supported--all you have to choose from is another corporate model. It's a false choice.
ReplyWhen you get sick, you get to live instead of dying, but that's not good enough for you. You also want someone else to pay your bills for you and to bare all the costs. You want a system where you take money from your neighbors, by force, against their will, in order to buy you advanced, high-tech health care.
Apparently, it's wrong for "corporations" to make a profit in voluntary exchange with customers for things the customers need and want, like health care. Apparently, you're the one that deserves to profit -- in exchange for nothing you've offered to anyone.
ReplyUm, no, I want to live in a world where profit is not the end game of a corporation, because capitalism does not solve everything.
Replynor does the government. Healthy people are as much of a strain on healthcare costs as the unhealthy. Unhealthy people generally die younger, however the healthy live to a ripe old age and that's when health care costs sky rocket. Why not get rid of the extremely old people too?
ReplyProfit is the reason insurance is offered. Why would anyone spend millions of dollars setting up a company if they could never receive anything in return?
You want to take away everything every company ever produced, un-solve every problem any company ever solved, and roll back any technical advances any company ever achieved. Because they made a profit.
ReplyYou know, I have been avoiding this thread because it makes me angry. Not because you've challenged my opinions, but because you seem so angry that not everyone shares your values. Everything you have said (and now I shall make such blanket assumptions as you have made) indicates you are one of the wild-eyed people who accuse anyone who thinks that the welfare of the masses of being a socialist, when I doubt you know what the word actually means. When the Constitution states that taxes may be collected for the general welfare, call me naive for thinking that should include at least attempting to promote the health of the population. That is not socialism.
ReplyCapitalism is simply "freedom" when it comes to labor and economic activity. Opponents to capitalism are anti-freedom.
And, no, capitalism or freedom don't solve everything. There's no utopia. Nothing solves everything. Everything won't be solved. Life is a struggle, always has been a struggle, and always will be a struggle.
But freedom does provide freedom. Free people aren't forced to do things against their will, like you want to. Freedom doesn't have theft built-in to it, like your alternative does. Freedom doesn't have violent threats implied against those who refuse to obey, like your plans do.
ReplyI doubt anyone is reading this now. I am very capitalistic. I have no problem with profit. I just think a just society is defined by how they take care of their people. The fat guy who picks of the garbage should have the same access health care as me. There is no way he could afford my insurance coverage or get the same hospital care. Rasing his premiums seems uncivilized.
ReplyCananda does not have "free" health care. The good people of Canada are taxed to death.
ReplyYep, we sure are, but our health care system is far from perfect. We have insanely long wait times for procedures, our hospitals are desperately understaffed and our medical system continues to eliminate procedures from the 'covered' category. A lot of European countries pay far higher taxes than we Canucks but also have outstanding health care.
ReplyDr. Steve & Mike,
I'm glad you guys are not in congress. :)
I don't think negative reinforcement will solve the obesity issue and apparently education is not solving it either.
My guess is people are getting too much from all ends. The diet and food industry are powerful and to successfully lose weight – a person has to take an active role in his or her life.
I'm not sure of the answers on a macro environmental level other than I doubt increasing health premiums and increasing food (read sin) taxes will do the trick. Hey why not tax sodas? Darn - NY already thought of that.
ReplyHow would you justify charging higher insurance premiums to people who are 30-40 lbs overweight but can run circles around their coworkers because they exercise faithfully. The obese can still be very healthy individuals. Skinny DOES NOT equal healthy.
ReplyThe comment was about people with a BMI over 30, not 30 pounds overweight. Sorry, but someone who is obese IS unhealthy. Someone who works out but is still overweight wouldn't fall into the higher premiums category.
ReplyYou raise a good point here. BMI isn't always a fair estimate of health. My hubby is a pro bodybuilder (drug free btw), eats very clean and works out 6 times a week. He weighs 180 pounds and is 5'7". According to his BMI he is overweight, but he actually is about 7% bodyfat at this time. Should he pay more for insurance? That system simply wouldn't work for everyone.
ReplyI agree here. I am 5'1" but weigh about 117 & often my BMI comes out way higher than it actually is due to having more muscle.
ReplyWhile someone who is healthy may be able to have a BMI in the "overweight" range, I really doubt they would have enough muscle to tip themselves into the obese range ... and that is what was proposed here, not merely being overweight.
ReplyMichaal Jordan and Tom Cruise were both considered OBESE at one point or another at the heights of their careers. I don't know if that's true for either of them now, but it's definitely possible for someone to be completely healthy and have a large BMI. If insurance companies want to charge more to overweight individuals, there must be more comprehensive testing using mutliple scales such as BMI, waist circumference, and skin folds.
I am in favor of taxing foods that have little nutritional value. Packaged foods with a lot of additives and sodium are not good for anyone on a diet, including high-fat diets. The government should never tax fresh foods such as meats and produce.
ReplyI see where you are coming from Dan and agree... I must contend though, that Jordan was not obese at the peak of his career. At 6'6" and 216, this places his BMI at 25. There are, however many athletes considered "obese" who clearly aren't.
ReplyYes Ann it absolutely can happen. My hubby is considered obese by BMI standards in the off season when his bodyfat % increases to 12 or 13%. BMI does not take into consideration muscle mass, bone density or any genetic factors, so it really isn't a great gauge.
ReplyI also agree that BMI is not always a good indicator of health. Someone who's very short and muscular (like myself and Jody) is going to have a skewed BMI but could be insanely healthy and fit. I know for me personally, problems stemming from obesity probably wouldn't hit me unless my BMI was around 32-35, so the blanket number of 30 wouldn't apply to everyone.
ReplyI would like to know more about the smoking and drinking statistics.
I will not defend smoking as healthy but I believe have a few a day does not hurt anyone - it is all about balance. Remember, Japanese smoke more than Americans and live longer (I know it is not that simple). But why won't people talk about this?
I will not defend drinking as healthy but I believe it is not bad if it is done moderately. Japanese drink more than Americans and live longer. French drink more and have less heart problems.
I am fat because I consume too many calories and don't (didn't) exercise enough.
Reply"And, the total number of people hitting all five healthy habits dropped from 15% to 8%."
What five healthy habits?
ReplyNo surprise here.
People need to be educated about their choices because very few actually know how to live a healthy lifestyle in today's culture. If the people understood the repercussions for their decisions, and what it's costing them, I think we would see a major change in the right direction.
Campaigns, programs, and events will not curb the decline in American habits. The people will always choose what they want. I think we need to teach American's that they truly do want health and vitality - many people don't even know what this feels like.
"Americans will always do the right thing - after they've exhausted all the alternatives." - Winston Churchill
ReplyI teach weight loss classes in my community. (I lost 150 pounds twelves years ago and have kept it off.) In my classes, I am astonished at the little understanding these intellegent adults have concerning the food they eat. They are continually surprised when I show them the fat content in popular foods, even though the nutrition label clearly shows the proportions.
If education is going to work, it needs to be independent of any food industry influence. Unfortunately, even when we know the right things to do, it often takes a scary wake-up call to get people to move in a healthy direction.
ReplyIt would be great for everyone to attend education classes like you teach Diane.
The main food 'education' people get is advertising from food manufacturers. We are bombarded with ads from McDonalds, KFC etc telling us how tasty and wonderful their food is. Do our governments need to compete with this advertising to present the alternative view of what these foods can do to your body?
ReplyI wish I could understand this. Is it because life is getting more fast paced, more food & fast food at every corner, the increased number of processed food available over time.... people so often want it now but with weight loss, it just does not happen that way most of the time. It takes effort to work out & you have to take responsibility for yourself & your family to eat better...... people need to start being more accountable. All the programs in the world are not going to do it for them. They have to do it themselves.
ReplyTo me, this study just goes to show that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Americans KNOW how to be healthier and know that they need to quit smoking, cut down on drinking, stop stuffing Doritos into their mouths, and get off their fat butts and work out. But they just don't want to change because, well, they probably LIKE drinking, smoking, and eating donuts all day. And lots of people "hate" working out. I think part of the remedy needs to be some sort of financial thing because most people care more about their money than their health (sadly)...maybe have a yearly required physical for health insurance reasons where your cholesterol levels, body fat %, etc. are measured and your premiums are based on your stats from that exam. People with high cholesterol, diabetes, and elevated body fat % would have a higher premium because, let's face it, those are the people that the healthcare $$ are being spent on. I work in a hospital and the vast majority of our tests are run on diabetics, cardiac patients, etc. It makes perfect sense that those people should be paying out more. Kind of like for homeowner's insurance...if you're filing a claim every other month, they're going to raise your premium. Maybe we need a system like that for health insurance. Just a thought.
ReplyI am living in Japan, and sad to see the life style in Japan has been dramatically westernized past two decades. The fast food chain restaurants(the Symbol of the US Food culture) are everywhere and younger generations really love them. The obesity rate in Japan is dramatically increasing.
There is no clear evidence why the Japanese can not become fat like Caucasians(as for BMI base, because the higher BMI ratio is very low in Japan). There are several speculations, such as thrifty gene, low insulin secretion, etc.
However, the morbidity of DM is now similar to the US. This is really scary truth, so that the Japanese look like skinny but the truth is that a third of the men aged over 40 is metabolic syndrome... So this situation in Japan really makes me scary.
Thats why the cost of the public health insurance is dramatically increasing and has strained the national budgets.
In order to get out of this burden, the ex-primmistry of Japan had chose to follow the American health insurance system, Our medical services are gradually changing and now drawing in the middle of confusion.
The priority of the Japanese government is taking off the load as soon as possible, it's not for the long-lived civilian's health. I guess we civilian will not be able to rely on the public health insurance near future. What we can do is returning the healthy life style we used to be.
I am looking at where the US citizens are moving forward, so I can warn the people in Japan for their mistake.
When I read through the commets, I have felt sorrow that the most people did not care the future of the US, just care about the short term profits...
I am sorry if you feel offended, but I do not intend to do so. When I read Spectra's comment, somehow it reminded me of the recent death of GM company.
When I first visited the US in my younger age, such as early 90's, I was really fascinated by the affluent life style and full of confidents how strong the US is.
Since then, I have not visited the US for a long time, but the news from the media made me think how different the US is now. The people are losing their jobs, getting fats, then the major companies go bankruptcy...
Spectra said, "most people care more about their money than their health", This is probably true and the health is meant to be "future profits", so GM had been just chasing short term profits, it means just money. They did not care the future profits, so they did not change the company style, sticked to their style and did not invest the effort to the future. What happens? The symbol of the US is gone...
Spectra said, "But they just don't want to change because, well, they probably LIKE drinking, smoking, and eating donuts all day. And lots of people "hate" working out." This sounds the citizen in the US also looks like GM. They did not care the future profits, just do whatever they want NOW under the oath of free country.
I feel so sad. Probably some people feel offended by what I wrote, but this is just my opinion.
PS. sorry for my bad English, because English is my second language.
ReplySome of you have pretty INSANE ideas here... Charge for ice-cream, meat & deep fried food? Moronic!
See, it boils down to FREE WILL. The idea of putting taxes, charges and all those other methods are just BOXING the individual into tunnel vision, or at least trying to. This is ridiculously counter-productive. W33D is illegal... does this stop those that want to get high? NOPE. What makes you think you can stop a real-life Michelin man from indulging in his burger craving?! You CAN'T!
I say forget about the 40-70 that are unhealthy. They are grown adults and at that age, cannot be reasoned with. If they come forward asking for help, fine, if not... keep consuming mass quantities of lard, I couldn't give a ****.
We need to focus the attention to where the problem STEMS from. CHILDREN. If from birth, a child is educated well enough, they are LESS likely to make retarded choices when they grow up. This isn't fiction, this is FACT.
Humans learn SOCIALLY... so if kids grow up around healthy and active parents and friends, this will influence their belief systems and choices in LIFE. Just how a business has a product refresh cycle where they need to get rid of old inventory, we need a national refresh cycle.
(When I say old I'm not technically referring to age, I'm referring to the body's ability. Look at Jody, at 51 I'd consider her "newer" than some 30 year olds)
ReplyFJ.. thx for the compliment. I see lots of us older folks working hard these days. Sometimes in better shape than the younger ones because we have been there, done that... and learned!
ReplyTaxing a burger may not stop someone who is overweight from eating it, but if that money goes into the health care system, he is pre-paying for the health consequence of that choice.
I live in Canada. I support measures that place the financial burden of poor health choices on the individuals making the choices versus placing it on society as a whole. We already do it for tobacco, alcohol, safety equipment (seatbelts & helmets), and many other things. Why not fast food?
ReplyHmmm .. could it be possible that the standard "governmentized' (yes, I made that word up) approach to nutrition is, um, well, WRONG?!
Maybe if we all went back to eating the way we were intending to, to eating the way that our ancestors ate and the way that the human race managed to evolve by until the anti-fat onslaught of the 1950's then maybe we'd all be lean, healthy and happy again.
Oh hang on, that's what I've been doing for 5 years. And let me tell you, it's been FANTASTIC.
ReplyI question whether smoking has actually remained the same. From my personal observation, this seems absurd. However, I know personal observation is a poor substitute for statistics.
ReplyI myself had this happen when I had my second kid adding a colon cleanse also helps to lose that extra 7 to 10 pounds you can't burn off.
ReplyI even hate to put this out there but a lot of people worry about their health when they have to. The rest of us practice PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE. Eating right, exercising and keepingprocessed foods to a minimum is the how to live healthy. Why don't some do it? Lack of education, motivation, it will never happen to me and feeling that they are worthy of it. I have had 140 pounds off for 25 years and I practice what I preach but I totally understand how some would not. That is the difference, I learned these things many years ago and I choose to live a healthy because I feel and look better. Anybody can do it, you just have to stay focused and never give up.
debra mazda
Reply