Messages about the dangers of eating too much and exercising too little may have finally started to resonate with Americans.
Hopeful signs were cropping up throughout 2015: studies showed a decline in the number of new diabetes cases; sugary soda consumption dropped off; and Americans were actually starting to eat more healthfully.
It may be too soon to call it a trend, but still, all these findings may signal a change in the way we think about food and exercise.
2016: the year Americans get serious about getting healthy?
"It may be like the smoking cessation campaigns," said Dr. Mark H. Schutta, G. Clayton Kyle Associate Professor of Diabetes and medical director of the Penn Rodebaugh Diabetes Center at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. "They really reduced the incidence of smoking in America. I think there is a greater awareness of the importance of eating in a nutritious manner and getting exercise. And I think many Americans are paying attention. But it's a constant battle against the fast food industry."
Speaking of smoking — the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes has plummeted 20 percent in the last 10 years and dropped a full percentage point in the last year alone.
Certainly the decline in sugary sodas' popularity suggests that Americans are recognizing the importance of cutting foods that just pack on the calories. Between 2004 and 2014, Americans' cut consumption of carbonated soft drinks by 14 percent, according to an analysis by Beverage Digest.
Image: Americans who are in good shape as young adults are much less likely to die in middle age.
Americans who are in good shape as young adults are much less likely to die in middle age. Kanawa Studio / Getty Images
Perhaps even more important was a decline over a 10 year period in the amount of sugary beverages consumed by school-age children, which was reported in a study published in April in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
But it isn't just soda consumption that's been changing. A study published in November in Health Affairs found that not only had Americans improved their diets overall, but also that these improvements likely prevented over a million premature deaths.
The researchers created a healthy eating scorecard, with a perfect rating set at 100. From 1999 to 2012, Americans went from a score of 39.9 to 48.2, said Dr. Frank Hu, a coauthor of the study and a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Far from perfect, but certainly an improvement, he said.
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