TORONTO-- Youthography revealed that young Americans are far more concerned with staying healthy than the American public often credits them for.

According to Youthography's latest poll of more than 1,900 American youth, the "young at heart" are dedicated to remaining so. In fact, 70.4 percent believe having a healthy lifestyle is important. Surprisingly, of the youngest set polled, aged 9-13, that number rose to 87 percent.

Asked to comment on issues surrounding America's biggest health risk factors (tobacco use, alcohol use and obesity) that contribute to the leading causes of death in the United States, (heart disease, cancer and stroke) American's youth had something to say:

--Smoking: 65.4 percent of all respondents claim they've never smoked. In the 9-13 age range a whopping 93.7 percent have yet to light up, and of 14-18-year-olds, 78.5 percent haven't done so either. This compared to 1993 survey data by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows marked improvement -- as then about 35 percent of students in high school had smoked one or more cigarettes in the last 30 days.

--Alcohol: 46.8 percent of America's youth aged 14-29 say they don't imbibe alcohol at all. A quarter of those of legal age, 21-29, claim they don't drink, and for high school aged students 14-18 years of age, the percentage was significantly greater, with 80.1 percent making the same claim. Only 10.2 percent of all respondents listed "getting drunk" as important. The use of alcohol showed a similar decline from the 1993 NCHS data, which reported that 48 percent of high school students had at least one drink in the last 30 days.

-- Drugs: Only 10.2 percent of those polled suggested getting high or stoned was important to them; 6 percent of those respondents were female, 15 percent male.

--Diet: Asked whether they were interested in eating healthier, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being very important) 68.5 percent gave a score of 7 or above; as the age scale escalated so did the level of importance (9-13: 27.1 percent, 14-18: 28.3 percent, 19-24: 36.5 percent, 25-29: 39.8 percent).