(Undated) — Cigarette smoking is down and seat belt use is up, but Americans are also getting heavier. This year’s Harris Poll on healthy lifestyles shows that the number of people who smoke has dropped by nearly 50-percent since 1983, when the survey was first conducted. While 30-percent of respondents 28 years ago were smokers, just 18-percent now say they smoke cigarettes. Seat belt use has skyrocketed over the past three decades, rising from 19-percent back in 1983 to 91-percent in 2011. However, the number of people who say they’re overweight has grown over the years. In 1983, 58-percent confessed to being overweight, and 15-percent admitted they were obese. According to the 2011 poll, 78-percent are now overweight, and 38-percent are obese.
But there is some good news in the battle of the bulge. According to the Harris Poll analysis of the statistics the “obesity epidemic” appears to be slowing, and it’s possible the trend has already peaked.
Source: Metro Networks Inc.
