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American Morning

Gallup Poll: Americans and Their Health

Aired July 03, 2001 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More Americans are taking steps to improve their health. That is the finding of a new Gallup national health audit. Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey, the object of health himself, Frank Newport, editor-in-chief, looking so slim and trim and lovely on this morning.

Good morning, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, good morning, Daryn, and thank you very much. I've got the numbers for you. A year or two ago, I just thought that I would tell you this, the average American woman said that she weighed 150, she would wish she could weigh 136 and for men, the average man said he weighed 190. He said his ideal weight would be 180. So that's what people told us.

Boy, look at this. You mentioned that health audit. We gave Americans a series of possible problems that for each one how much of a problem is it for you? And overweight was number one out of that whole list. Fifty-four percent of adults, believe it or not, said that they felt they weighed too much. That's a big number, a lot higher than said they didn't get enough sleep, didn't get enough exercise or didn't use their seat belts.

Well, break that down by age, even among teenagers in a special Gallup teen survey we did, 21 percent told us that they were overweight. And then for younger Americans, about 44 percent. But it's that 40 to 64-year-old group, a lot of baby boomers in there, that really 63 percent said they were overweight. Then it comes down slightly when you get older. But still, of senior citizens, 58 percent say they weigh too much.

This is no great shock, women more likely to say that they weigh more than men, 60 percent of women, 48 percent of men. Those are the numbers. The perception is the key here. You know, if you're overweight and don't worry about it, maybe it's not so bad, although medically it's bad. but if you worry about it, it can dominate your whole life. And so we did ask this question, how often do you worry about your weight, a year or two ago. Here is the numbers broken up by men and women. All the time, 20 percent of women, less of men; some of the time, 32 percent and 21; and then a smaller number, larger numbers rarely or never. But among the women, that was about half who said they worry about their weight at least some of the time or all of the time, less for men. What that suggests, Daryn, is there are a lot of people out there that this is a very dominant psychological issue which could affect their whole life. So I'm glad CNN is doing this major emphasis today on how to cure the problem. Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Very good. Maybe next time Frank can ask how many men know the right answer to the question, "Honey, do these pants make me look fat?" Do you know, Brian?

NELSON: Not at all.

KAGAN: There you go.

NELSON: Not at all, dear.

KAGAN: Very good. Brian does just fine.

NELSON: I've escaped that one myself.

KAGAN: Frank Newport, thank you.

NELSON: All right.

KAGAN: You've been well trained.

NELSON: Oh, yes, the hard part.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

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