Older and wiser? Statistics track health and fitness over the decades

By Mary Shedden
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

Flash back a decade with the help of some old photos, and you might cringe.

Chances are, the body in your snapshots looks slimmer, firmer and fitter all around. Aging is an obvious culprit, as are certain foods or a lack of exercise.

But not everybody, or every body, is worse off.

"Man, I thought I was in shape, and I had a muffin top," Tampa businessman Jim Tagg, 42, says of his 32-year-old self. Ten years ago, Tagg spent more time enjoying chicken wings and beer than working out. Now, he spends his daily lunch break at the gym.

Tagg is like a lot of Americans who start getting more serious about their health as they age. The number of Americans eating a heart-healthy diet and refraining from bad habits such as smoking increases dramatically between the ages of 20 and 39 (18 percent) and 40 to 59 (32 percent), says the National Center for Health Statistics. Adults 60 and older are even more likely to work at wellness.

An increased awareness of health as we age is normal: We're more prone to aches and pains, and we witness peers and others battle illness. But it's not a sign that we as a community, or a nation, are healthier than we were at the start of the 21st century, personal trainer Rob Zulkowski says.

It's amazing, he says, how many clients today start a program thinking they're healthier than they are.

"So many people think they're average, but they're overweight," says Zulkowski, who operates programs in Valrico and at Plaza Fitness in downtown Tampa.

Sure, fitness is his business, but snapshots of the nation's health back him up. Overall, it appears Americans are not in better shape now than they were in 2000, says Penny Slade-Sawyer, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Her office handles the nation's Healthy People program, which has been tracking American health, a decade at a time, since 1980. Preliminary data through 2008 shows that targets set in many of the program's 467 specified areas will not be met, but improvements have been made, says Carter Blakey, the Healthy People 2010 community strategies leader.

"We can't always meet the target," she says of the goals backed up by government-backed education programs and research. "But we can move the needle toward it."

Of particular concern, Slade-Sawyer says, is the increase in the number of people living with diabetes and dying from related illnesses, and ongoing problems with obesity.

Since the decade's start, the number of new cases of diabetes has increased to from 5.7 per 1,000 Americans to 8 per 1,000. Healthy People officials initially set a goal to reduce that rate to 3.8 per 1,000.

Obesity numbers show similar results. The number of adults 20 and older considered obese jumped to 33 percent from 23 percent earlier this decade, Healthy People research shows.

Slade-Sawyer says some of the bumps reflect increased attention and new screenings for certain conditions, so they're turning up more people with problems. But it's also possible that despite the added focus on wellness, Americans are actually getting more lax with behaviors, such as diet and exercise.

Katarina Bobinac, 26, of Tampa has been going to gyms and staying fit since she was a teen. Now, she's pregnant with her first child and she's paying more attention to her health. But she says many young adults take an interest only if there's a direct personal connection. "If you have a family member with cancer or something else, you pay more attention," she says.

There's rarely a simple answer when it comes to health. Healthy People's ultimate purpose is to help Americans lead healthier lives, Slade-Sawyer says. The numbers can help health professionals better treat patients and remind the public that their health remains a serious concern.

There is some good news: Some of the targets set for lowering coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer-related deaths were met. The improvements can be attributed in part to declines in cigarette smoking and tobacco use, and the introduction of new statin drugs that allow for better disease management, Slade-Sawyer says.

Roque Bellotti says he's staying on top of his health, but hasn't needed nudging from the government to do so. The 54-year-old Tampa man believes his grandchildren motivate him to be more active today, so he's golfing and fishing and not working so hard. The result: He's a decade older, but no less worse for wear.

"I'm still the same," he says. "No better or worse."