If you answered the question posed in the headline above as anything more than a miniscule double-digit percentage, based on Americans faithfully following the five low-risk criteria cited in the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), you may be badly mistaken about the current state of the nation's collective health, not to mention your own.
Fact is, the number of American adults (age 25-74) who don't have the five low-risk factors for heart disease -- taking non-smoking status, no obesity issues, normal blood pressure, cholesterol numbers below 200 and a lack of a diabetes diagnosis into account -- sits at just 7.5 percent, a huge drop from the 10.5 percent reported in the previous NHANES report, collected from 1988-94. In other words, 92.5 percent of all Americans have some elevated risks for heart disease.
Generally, tobacco use is falling, a collective reduction in cholesterol levels appears to be leveling off but BMI, diabetes and blood pressure stats are "headed in the wrong direction," according to the study. And, although the health of both sexes is trending the same, significantly more women than men followed low-risk factors across the board.
Also contributing to the drastic reversal in the latest NHANES survey: An overall imbalance connecting sharp drops in physical activity to the growing amounts of food Americans consume.
Circulation September 14, 2009
Science Daily September 18, 2009
Time.com September 14, 2009