Study: Very Few Adults Living Healthy Lifestyle

According to researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Mississippi, less than 3% of adults in the US exhibit all 4 of some behaviors that would comprise a healthy lifestyle.

In studying 4745 individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, investigators evaluated how many of these adults succeed at maintaining a good diet, getting moderate exercise, achieving the recommended body fat percentage, and abstaining from smoking; general habits that the researchers note could help define healthy behavior and are typically associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and other health issues.
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The authors used an accelerometer to determine participants’ level of movement, with a goal of 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a week. Individuals’ smoking status was verified with blood samples, while body fat was measured with X-ray absorptiometry, as opposed to a simpler measurement based on height and weight. For the purposes of the study, participants adhering to a “healthy diet” were defined as those who were in or near the top 40% of individuals who ate food recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The aforementioned lifestyle characteristics were compared to biomarkers of cardiovascular health, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels, as well as more sophisticated measures such as C-reactive protein and fasting triglycerides.

The findings revealed that 71% of adults did not smoke, 38% maintained a healthy diet, 10% reported a normal body fat percentage, and 46% were adequately active. Just 2.7% of participants, however, achieved all of these basic lifestyle goals. Overall, 16% met 3 of these criteria, 37% met 2 of them, 34% exhibited 1 of these behaviors, and 11% met none of the goals.

The findings indicate that “having 3 or 4 healthy lifestyles was associated with more favorable biomarker levels, [and] several specific healthy lifestyles may be more important for particular cardiovascular disease risk factors,” says Ellen Smit, PhD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Oregon State University, and a co-author of the study.

For example, says Smit, “we found that normal body fat percentage was the most important lifestyle characteristic for healthy levels of HDL and total cholesterol.”

While noting that further research beyond this cross-sectional study is needed to determine any causal association, “primary care practitioners can discuss and encourage adopting multiple healthy lifestyles with their patients,” says Smit, “with a specific focus on individual risk factors.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Loprinzi P, Branscum A, et al. Healthy lifestyle characteristics and their joint association with cardiovascular disease biomarkers in us adults [published online March 23, 2016]. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.01.009.