Know the Issues

Wellness: The Facts

• Approximately 40 percent of all deaths that occur in the U.S. each year are premature (at least 900,000) and are due to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as smoking, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, misuse of alcohol and drugs, and accidents.

• Six leading causes of death in the United States – heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes – are most attributed to these unhealthy choices.

• Obesity among American adults rose to 30 percent in 1999-2000, a 33 percent increase from a decade earlier.

• About two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.

• Among children in the United States, daily participation in physical education classes has dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003,  more than 60 percent eat too much saturated fat, and almost 80 percent do not eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables.

The Alliance believes the federal government has an important role to play in providing incentives to employers to implement health promotion programs at work.  The Alliance has formed to support federal legislation and regulation providing funding for businesses to establish certified wellness programs for their employees.