Poll finds very religious have good health habits

Americans who are "very religious" are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are less religious, a Gallup survey shows.

The new findings are based on a survey of more than 550,000 people who were asked about their decisions related to smoking, healthy eating and exercise. Overall, very religious Americans scored 66.3 on a "healthy behavior index," compared to 60.6 among the moderately religious and 58.3 among the nonreligious.

The very religious were defined as those who consider religion to be an important part of their daily lives and say they attend worship services every week or almost every week.