WASHINGTON, June 18, (RTRS): More Americans are exercising but rates of obesity and smoking have not changed, according to the latest government data.
A survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Wednesday finds obesity rates were frozen last year at around 28 percent of adults compared to 2008.
But 34.7 percent claimed in 2009 they engage in regular leisure physical activity, up from 31.9 percent in 2008. And 39.8 percent said they had been tested for the AIDS virus, slightly more than 38.7 percent in 2008.
Health experts and the US government both recommend getting daily exercise — about an hour a day of moderate exercise for most adults — to keep weight off and prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The CDC also recommends that every adult get an HIV test. The CDC estimates that about 1 million Americans are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, but more than 20 percent have not been tested and do not know it.
Some other facts from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics:
- The prevalence of obesity among adults aged 20 and over has increased from 19.4 percent in 1997 to 28 percent in 2009.
- In 2009, 9 percent of adults 18 and over had diabetes, up from 8.2 percent in 2008 and 5 percent in 1997.
- 20.6 percent of adults smoked, about the same as in 2008.
- Nearly 23 percent of adults had at least one day of binge drinking in 2009, defined as having five or more drinks in a day.
- Most Americans believe they are healthy. More than 66 percent said they had excellent or very good health, down from 68.5 percent in 2008. 2.4 percent said they had poor health.
- Just over 4 percent of all Americans said they had an asthma attack in the past year.

Soft drinks: Raising the price of sugary soft drinks will likely prompt thirsty consumers to seek out cheaper, healthier beverages, US researchers said on Thursday.
They said raising the price of a can of soda by 35 percent cut soft drink sales in a hospital cafeteria by 26 percent, offering some evidence that adding a tax to soda pop may prod consumers into making better choices.
Obesity adds an estimated $147 billion a year in costs to the US health care system and several states, including New York and California, have weighed a tax on sweetened soft drinks to defray the cost of obesity-related diseases.
“Obesity is at epidemic levels. It’s an incredibly difficult and complicated problem,” said Dr Jason Block of Harvard University in Boston, whose study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.
He said soft drinks have been increasingly recognized as a major contributor to the country’s growing obesity epidemic.
First Lady Michelle Obama last month unveiled a 70-point plan to reduce childhood obesity which called for an analysis of the impact of local sales taxes on consumption of less healthy foods.
Too much sugar not only makes people fatter, but is also a key culprit in diabetes, heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.
“Regular soft drinks make up about 7 percent of all calories consumed in the United States,” Block said in a telephone interview, adding that they are a “major driver” of obesity in the United States.
For the study, Block and colleagues raised the price of a can of soda by 45 cents or 35 percent in the cafeteria at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and then measured the effect on sales.
The price increase applied to sugary soft drinks, which they defined as carbonated beverages with calories.
“What we found is that a price increase of 35 percent on regular soda led to a 26 percent decline in regular soda sales,” Block said.
Instead of reaching for an energy drink or fruit juice, people tended to increase their consumption of diet drinks or coffee during the study period, he said.
The team compared the effect of a price increase to an educational campaign, in which the team posted signs and information about weight loss and the need to cut back on sweetened beverages.
This appeared to have no effect on buying habits of regular soda, Block said.
He said the study suggests a price increase should be part of the conversation policymakers have among themselves as they weigh options to address obesity in the United States.
“There are a number of proposals out there to levy taxes on soda. I think it’s an important discussion. We see from this study there is some evidence that it could work to reduce consumption rates,” Block said.
The American Beverage Association, a trade group whose members include Coca-Cola Co, Pepsico Inc and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, strongly opposes such taxes and says sugar-sweetened drinks are not a unique risk factor for obesity or heart disease.
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Morning-after pill:  A US health panel Thursday voted unanimously to allow the sale of a controversial French birth control pill, which can prevent pregnancy for up to five days after unprotected sex.
The final decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not expected for several months, but the so-called morning-after pill “Ella” got the nod of approval by 11 medical experts on an FDA advisory panel who deemed it safe.
The move is likely to stir controversy from the anti-abortion movement, because of the way it works. The manufacturers, France’s HRA Pharma laboratory, say it delays ovulation, while opponents maintain it works by stopping a fertilized egg from implanting in the walls of a woman’s uterus.
“We are delighted the committee was able to confirm our product’s effectiveness,” top US executive Erin Gainer from HRA Pharma told AFP.
“We’re optimistic” Ella will get the FDA’s green light for sale in the United States, she added. The panel’s advice is not legally binding on the FDA, but it is usually followed.
HRA said it hopes to market Ella in the United States by the end of the year through its US partner Watson Pharmaceuticals. As in Europe, it would be sold by prescription on the US market.
In the United States, it would be in competition with Plan B, already available over the counter here, and its generic version, Next Choice.
But the longer contraceptive period offered by Ella — five days as opposed to three days for Plan B — could raise controversy with anti-abortion groups who consider its effects more akin to abortion than birth control.
As a precaution, two police officers were posted at the hotel outside Washington where the public, medical debate over the new pill was held. There was no trouble.
Ella’s chemical composition is also similar to the RU-486 abortion pill that prevents pregnancy for up to nine weeks after intercourse. Introduced 10 years ago in the United States, RU-486 raised the hackles of the anti-abortion crowd.
“The big elephant in the room is whether or not this medication is inducing some sort of abortion,” said a member of the FDA panel.
“This drug is not to be used if already pregnant,” said Gainer from the manufacturers.
Ella’s yearly sales in Europe reach 36.5 million euros and its US potential is “several hundred million dollars,” according to Gainer.
The FDA panel asked many questions about the drug’s apparently reduced effectiveness in overweight women, and its side effects.
“The most common adverse reactions were nausea, headache, dysmenorrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, and dizziness,” the FDA advisory committee reported on the results of Ella’s clinical trials with 4,700 women.
Several women’s aid groups testified before the committee and largely backed the marketing of Ella in the United States.
“The US has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. We have more than six times the pregnancy rate of the Netherlands, almost four times that of Germany and almost three times that of France,” Advocates for Youth manager Sarak Audelo told the panel in support of the French pill.
Concerned Women for America president Wendy Wright however compared Ella to the abortion pill RU-486 which she said has caused seven deaths since it was introduced in this country.
“Ulipristal or Ella is similar to mifepristone (RU486) a drug that causes an abortion,” she said.
“RU-486 was approved without adequate ttrials and even with restricted distribution has resulted in thousands of complications including deaths.”