90% of US has poor diet, 25% don’t exercise + Depressed: vulnerable to misinformation

[C C]

How depression makes people vulnerable to misinformation
https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/covid/...tion-more/

INTRO: For years, scientists have been trying to understand what makes a person prone to believing in dangerous conspiracy theories. It’s never been more important: as the pandemic bears on, misinformation is driving people to avoid potentially life-saving vaccines or treatments, and has cleft huge rifts in the fabric of society, alienating people from family, friends and community.

Now, a US study has found that people suffering from depression are much more likely to believe misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. That means misinformation is most effective when targeted at vulnerable people – a common tactic used by conspiracy theorists and political subcultures.

The study, published in JAMA, surveyed more than 15,000 US adults across the nation’s 50 states. The researchers measured depressive symptoms against a person’s likelihood to agree with at least one of four false statements about COVID-19 vaccines... (MORE - details)

---

90% of US has a poor diet, and 25% don’t exercise
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/...-exercise/

INTRO: As the pandemic enters its third year with cases and hospitalizations as high as ever, fresh data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminds us that we already had a long track record of failing to manage our health.

The latest data from a decades-long health survey finds that—yet again—the vast majority of Americans have a poor diet and many of us are inactive. Specifically, just 10 percent of Americans eat enough vegetables, and only 12 percent eat enough fruit, according to recent responses to the CDC's survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system. Recent responses also reveal that 25 percent of Americans don't do any exercise outside of any work activity.

A poor diet and inactivity can both set people up for medical conditions, such as weak immune function, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers, the CDC notes.

"Following a dietary pattern that includes sufficient fruits and vegetables can help protect against some chronic conditions that are among the leading causes of mortality in the United States," the CDC concluded in a recent study reporting the dietary findings. "Some of these conditions are also associated with more severe illness from COVID-19."

Meanwhile, in a separate release of the inactivity data, Dr. Ruth Petersen, director of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, spoke to the importance of exercise. "Getting enough physical activity could prevent 1 in 10 premature deaths," she said. "Too many people are missing out on the health benefits of physical activity such as improved sleep, reduced blood pressure and anxiety, lowered risk for heart disease, several cancers, and dementia (including Alzheimer's disease)."

The latest dietary data came from nearly 300,000 US participants who responded to the survey in 2019, before the pandemic hit the US... (MORE - details)

[Syne]

INTRO: For years, scientists have been trying to understand what makes a person prone to believing in dangerous conspiracy theories. It’s never been more important: as the pandemic bears on, misinformation is driving people to avoid potentially life-saving vaccines or treatments, and has cleft huge rifts in the fabric of society, alienating people from family, friends and community.

Faulty premise. While certainly the depressed can be more prone to believing in conspiracy theories, as MR illustrates, being unafraid of COV is not the same as believing misinformation. It's the rabidly vaxxed and masked that have been the ones driving wedges between their family and friends, mostly out of irrational degrees of fear.

The latest data from a decades-long health survey finds that—yet again—the vast majority of Americans have a poor diet and many of us are inactive. Specifically, just 10 percent of Americans eat enough vegetables, and only 12 percent eat enough fruit, according to recent responses to the CDC's survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system. Recent responses also reveal that 25 percent of Americans don't do any exercise outside of any work activity.

A poor diet and inactivity can both set people up for medical conditions, such as weak immune function, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers, the CDC notes.

Many of those demanding the preventative measure of vaccines, to protect their own high-risk asses, have ignored preventative healthcare for years. Will it change their behavior or just continue to justify them hypocritically making demands of others?