1 percent of women meticulous on health

WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Only 1 percent of U.S. women are extremely proactive and meticulous about their health, a survey indicates.

The "Life...supplemented" My Wellness Scorecard National Study indicates nearly three-quarters of U.S. women say they try to live a healthy lifestyle, but often come up short.

Twenty-six percent do little to nothing about maintaining their health while the rest -- 73 percent -- say they try to maintain a healthy diet, taking supplements, getting routine exercise and other general lifestyle habits to various degrees of success.

The Wellness Scorecard indicates 58 percent of women report avoiding processed foods, avoiding cholesterol-rich dishes and avoiding fatty foods like whole milk and fatty meat. However, nearly 35 percent admit that they eat more cholesterol-rich and fatty foods than they should.

Sixty-one percent of women take a multivitamin, while 46 percent say they take a multivitamin daily.

Forty-eight percent of women say they enjoy cardiovascular exercise like running, walking aerobics, dancing, tennis and basketball, but 41 percent say they don't have a regular exercise regimen. However, exercising three to four days a week for an hour can make a big difference to a person's health.

The scorecard of 1,172 U.S. adults -- 616 women -- was conducted Oct. 2 to Oct. 9 by Ipsos Public Affairs. The overall margin of error was 2.9 percentage points, while the margin of error for the women was 4 percentage points.