Findings from the 2007 Health Survey for England found that:
Most alcohol drinkers exceeded the recommended intake
Results from the survey indicate that most adults had drunk alcohol in the last week (73% of men and 57% of women).
Among those adults who said they drank in the last week, 59% of men and 55% of women exceeded the current recommended daily alcohol intake on at least one day.
26% of men and 15% of women drank more than twice the recommended level.
When asked about their attitudes towards alcohol, the majority of adults believed that ‘drinking is a major part of the British way of life’.
However, only a minority of adults agreed that ‘there is nothing wrong with people getting drunk regularly’.
Less than a third of adults eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables
Only 27% of men and 31% of women ate the recommended five or more portions of fruit or vegetables per day.
However, considerably more knew that the recommended number of portions of fruit and vegetables per day is five - 78% of women and 62% of men.
When asked about their attitudes towards healthy eating, more women than men agreed that ‘healthy foods are enjoyable’ and ‘I really care about what I eat’.
Most people don't know how much physical activity the government recommends
About a quarter of adults thought they knew how much physical activity the government recommends we do.
However, when asked how much physical activity they think people their age should do, fewer than 1 in 10 were able to specify the minimum recommended amount, while a quarter overestimated.
A high proportion of men and women aged 16-64 perceived themselves to be either very or fairly physically active compared with other people in their age group (75% of men and 67% of women).
When asked specifically about barriers to doing more physical activity, 45% of men and 34% of women quoted work commitments and 38% of men and 37% of women quoted lack of leisure time.
You can read more about this series of surveys here.
Smokers reported cutting down on cigarettes after the introduction of the smokefree legislation in July 2007
The proportion of adults smoking did not decrease in the six months following the introduction of the smokefree legislation in July 2007. However, 40% of male smokers and 41% of female smokers interviewed after the ban started said that it had made them reduce the number of cigarettes they smoked.
One third of smokers reported that the introduction of the smokefree legislation had encouraged them to stay at home where they could smoke. Despite this, there was no evidence of an increase in passive smoking among children.
Most children aged 13-15 were aware that there were health risks from breathing in other people's smoke - coughing, asthma and cancer were the risks most likely to be mentioned.