Anti-cancer trends

Each year the American Cancer Society publishes a report on factors that affect cancer risk. Apparently the long-term favorable trends that contribute to declining cancer deaths in the U.S. have stalled. In other words, our habits as Americans are not continuing to improve on lifestyle changes that prevent cancer. Below are a few nutrition-related highlights of the 2008 report.

Weight:
* Obesity is at epidemic levels with about two-thirds of adults being overweight or obese.
* The number of adolescents ages 12 to 19 who are overweight has more than tripled in the last twenty years, increasing from 5% to 17%.

Nutrition & Physical activity:
* Only one in five high school students ate five or more servings of vegetables and fruits a day. For adults, it's worse - only about one in four.
* Almost one in four adults reported having no physical activity in their free time.
* Only about 36% of youth engaged in physical activity for 60 minutes more than five days a week.