US loses couchpotato status to Brazil

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- The percentage of couch potatoes in Brazil is higher than in the United States, the Pan American Health Organization said Wednesday.

The percentage of Brazilian adults not engaging in leisure-time physical activity on even one day of the week "appears to be two to three times as high as the figures reported for the United States and European countries," according to a journal of the organization.

For exercise or sports done on five or more days of the week, the pattern is similar, with a much higher proportion of Brazilians failing to reach that goal than is true for adults in the United States and Europe.

The study found that 13 percent of the Brazilians surveyed reported that they performed a minimum of 30 minutes of leisure-time physical activity on one or more days of the week.

The 87 percent who did not reach that goal contrasts with the United States, where some 38 percent of the adults do not report any type of leisure-time physical activity at least once per week, and with Europe, where an estimated 32 percent do not achieve that minimal goal for physical activity.