New York, June 1 - Fewer Americans are eating the right foods and exercising regularly compared to previous decades, according to a new study.
Using data from a large government health survey, researchers found that in 2006, only 26 percent of Americans ages 40 to 74 said they ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day -- down from 42 percent in 1988.
Only 43 percent said they worked out at least 12 times per month, compared to 53 percent in 1988.
As exercise declined the rate of obesity increased from 28 percent in 1988 to 36 percent in 2006, the researchers reported in the American Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Dana E. King, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said the findings could lead to a rise in cases of diabetes and heart disease and people already suffering from the disorders are not following their doctor's advice.
"This tells us that many patients are not following the recommended lifestyle changes," King said.
The findings are based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a government health survey. King's team focused on surveys conducted between 1988 and 1994 and between 2001 and 2006, which together included more than 15,000 Americans between the ages of 40 and 74.
The researchers looked at five lifestyle factors -- maintaining a normal weight, getting regular exercise, eating enough fruits and vegetables, not smoking and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol.
In 1988, just 15 percent of Americans in this age group adhered to all five recommendations. By 2006, that figure had dropped to 8 percent, the researchers found.
While regular exercise and fruit and vegetable intake dropped over time, the rate of smoking remained steady, at about 26 percent.
Moderate drinking -- up to one drink per day for women, and two drinks per day for men -- was the one lifestyle change Americans were willing to make, according to the study.
The study cannot tell us why healthy lifestyle habits are on the decline, King said. "But one reason," he said, "may be that these changes are just difficult to make."
People's increasingly hectic lives may be making it hard to fit in regular exercise, or to sit down to healthier, home-cooked meals rather than eating take-out, the researcher noted.
King stressed that "it's never too late" for middle-aged and older adults to make lifestyle changes for the better.
In an earlier study, King and his team found that when middle-aged adults adopted a healthier lifestyle their risk of developing cardiovascular disease or dying over the next several years fell by as much as 40 percent.