Many admit to being less than truthful with doctors about health habits

This won't surprise anyone who has ever fudged by a few pounds on her or his driver's license: Patients lie about their eating habits, exercise routines -- about nearly everything, in fact, except their weight, and then only because they can't.

That number is painfully, unfailingly verified down to the decimal point and recorded at each visit to the doctor's office.

People are optimistic. People forget. But 45 percent of

respondents survey admitted theyknowingly misstate their health habits. Such failure to be frank risks minor to serious consequences, such as exposing others to a virus, suffering a drug interaction, developing a preventable chronic condition and delaying treatment until the late stages of a disease.
Failing to volunteer information can be as dangerous asying. In a research review released this monthUniversity of Washington-Seattle researchers found that almost 45 percent of people who committed suicide had seen their primary-care physician weeks or even days before. Some of them may have told their doctor they felt suicidal, and some may have been asked but denied it. But the researchers said doctors pose the question to patients with depression in less than half of cases, putting the burden on patients to raise the subject -- or to answer truthfully if asked.
In the 2004 online survey by

a health-information provider, 13 percent of the approximately 1,500 who responded said they had lied to their doctors. Thirty-two percent said they had "stretched the truth."

Today, there is little to suggest those figures have changed.

"It's human nature," says Tucson physician Victoria Maizes, executive director of the

Integrative Medicine at theWe tend to create an image of ourselves as being a bit better than we actually are. It's like in (writer Garrison Keillor's) Lake Wobegon -- we all think we're above average."

But doctors are on to the omissions and exaggerations that can compromise their ability to diagnose and treat patients effectively.

Chandler physician Andrew Carroll of the Renaissance Medical Group was taught in medical school and during his residency to mentally double the amount of alcohol patients report consuming.

"I think drinking and drug abuse are the two things that people most often tend not to be honest about," he says.

Even with less-risky health behaviors, Carroll says, "if patients know they're doing something wrong, they don't tell us because they don't want to get a lecture. But we're not the cops. We're not going to bust anybody."

Maria Contreras' doctor has advised her to strictly limit the coffee and soft drinks she consumes and to walk every day. Both measures will help slow the loss of bone density; the exercise also contributes to keeping her cholesterol at safe levels.

But Contreras, a Phoenix wife and mother of four, is busy with family and her job at an elementary school. Sometimes, she could use a caffeine boost and an extra hour or two in the day.

"The doctor asks me how much coffee and soda I drink," Contreras says. "I say, 'One coffee in the morning.' "

She doesn't mention the occasional second cup or soft drink in the afternoon, when her energy flags. And she doesn't explain that exercising "regularly" means she occasionally skips her walk if time is short.

"I do what I can," Contreras says. "I eat my vegetables and fruits. But sometimes it's hard to do everything I know I should."

Even if Dan Stone were tempted to stretch the truth a bit, he'd have a hard time of it. His doctor is a neighbor, and Stone sees him often on bike rides or outside their Gilbert homes.

But Stone, a husband, father and math teacher who is in good health, believes being less than honest with the doctor would be a mistake.

"Who would you be fooling except yourself?" he says. "Why even go, then? If there's something wrong that could be addressed, let's do it."