Residents of the Pacific Northwest are breathing easier this week after more than 10 days of smoke-filled skies. The combination of wildfires in British Columbia and unusually stagnant, hot air resulted in a dramatic—if temporary—plummet in regional air quality.

But for the rest of the western United States, wildfire season is just getting underway. And climate experts predict that as the planet heats up, the fires will continue to start earlier in the year, burn harder and last longer than in decades past.

Worsening wildfires can wreak obvious, immediate havoc on neighboring human and natural habitats. And by dumping particulates into the air, they might also boost residents’ risk of cancer down the road, said Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Parveen Bhatti, an expert on environmental factors that affect cancer risk.

Generally, those of us in the Northwest don’t need to worry about sucking in dirty air because Seattle is “a fairly clean city in terms of air pollution,” Bhatti said.

But researchers do know that prolonged exposure to air pollution—be it from traffic, industry or regular bouts of heavy smoke—is bad for your health.

In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified air pollution as a carcinogen, or cancer-promoting agent. Multiple large studies have found a clear association between air pollution and an increased risk in lung cancer, and individual studies have indicated possible increased risks of bladder, breast and some other cancers as well.

The good news is that air quality in the U.S. is mostly decent and actually better than it used to be, thanks to the Clean Air Act of 1970. The bad news is there are exceptions: Air pollution levels are on the rise in many low-income, urban areas of the world, according to the WHO, and some parts of the U.S. still have poor air quality.

The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II, which began in 1982 and enrolled 1.2 million participants in the U.S., has drawn links between regional differences in air pollution and increased risk of lung cancer, Bhatti said. That’s true even among nonsmokers. A 2011 analysis from that large study saw that increases in the type of air pollution known as particulate matter—tiny, airborne particles given off by wildfires, industry and traffic—also increased deaths due to lung cancer among those who had never smoked.

Bhatti and his colleagues are currently analyzing data from the Women’s Health Initiative—a large, long-term research study that involved more than 161,000 postmenopausal women in the U.S.—to see if the link to increased cancer risk holds true in that specific population as well.

To understand the specifics of this increased risk of cancer—and the possible biology behind it—you have to first understand what air pollution is and how researchers classify it. There are several types of air pollutants that can harm human health and the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, but the type that appears to most influence cancer risk is known as particulate matter.

As the name implies, these are literally tiny particles thrown into the air as a result of less-than-clean burning—and, unlike some modern, fuel-efficient cars, wildfires burn really dirty. Tiny bits of wood and ash get into the air, and into our lungs.

One kind of particulate Bhatti and his colleagues track in epidemiology studies is called PM 2.5, referring to the smallest bits, which measure less than 2.5 microns across. (That’s about one-thirtieth the width of an average human hair.)

“They’re really tiny particles,” Bhatti said. “The reason we are particularly concerned with those is because those penetrate to the deeper parts of the lung and can actually get into your circulation.”

A recent analysis of data from several studies found that an overall, long-term increase in the concentration of these particles of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air (slightly less than a doubling of the average yearly level considered “clean” air by California state standards) is linked to a 9 percent increase in lung cancer cases.

That boost is significant, but it’s a drop in the pond of lung cancer cases compared to cigarette smoking. Regular smoking increases the risk of lung cancer by 1,000 to more than 2,000 percent, according to the American Lung Association.

“On an individual basis, smoking is a much more brutal exposure,” Bhatti said. “Air pollution doesn’t even come close. However, given how widespread the exposure to air pollution can be, it has the opportunity to negatively impact the health of many more people.”
The two likely work in similar ways to trigger cancer. Like smoking, particulate matter in the air leads to inflammation in the lung, which is known to spur cancer formation.

How air pollution might trigger cancers in other parts of the body is a bit more of a mystery, however. Certain chemicals toxic to human DNA often stick to the small particles, and it’s possible those chemicals are triggering mutations deep in our cells that spur the formation of cancer, Bhatti said. But the particles themselves might also inflict damage.

What if summer wildfires get worse?

While they can worsen asthma and other lung conditions as well as heart disease, isolated incidents of wildfire smoke like the one that recently blanketed the Pacific Northwest are unlikely to significantly affect anyone’s risk of cancer, even if you were outside all day long, Bhatti said.

“As we think of with most exposures, it takes years of exposure to lead to an increased risk,” he said.

The question of cancer risk gets murkier, however, when you factor in that wildfire season in the Western U.S. has grown from an average of five months to more than seven months long since the 1970s as our planet heats up, and the average number of large wildfires per year is also on the rise.

“With climate change … if it becomes that most of the summer months we have smoke-filled air, that’s where we become concerned that we’re getting this regular exposure over time that could really then contribute to increased long-term health risks like cancer,” Bhatti said.

If air pollution from wildfires does become a more regular occurrence, Bhatti said individuals can follow standard public health advice for poor air-quality days to help reduce their long-term risk of lung cancer.

Most of the advice boils down to avoiding as much of the dirty air as you can: Skip outdoor exercise (but keep exercising, Bhatti said, because that lowers your risk of many cancers too). Stay inside buildings and cars with doors and windows closed and preferably some kind of air-filtration system or recirculating air conditioner running. Go to local cooling centers or other indoor spaces with A/C or, if you can, just get out of town until air quality improves.

But ultimately, the onus is on our local and federal governments to keep monitoring air quality and take steps to stem pollutants and climate change itself, Bhatti said.

“We really need to make sure our local government and the federal government pays attention and is taking action to make sure that these types of things don’t get worse so that we’re not dealing with this on an annual basis, which leads to that long-term exposure,” he said. “That’s where I think the major impact needs to come from.”

From Fred Hutch News

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We were all taught that smoking cigarettes are terrible for our health. However, menthol cigarettes are one of the worst cigarettes to smoke. The menthol flavoring masks the harshness of tobacco, which causes smokers to engage in more intense smoking behavior. Thus causing more damage to one’s health than a regular cigarette. 

There a nearly 7,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, many of which can cause severe cell damage and chronic inflammation. Smoking is linked to dangerous side effects and life-threatening diseases. Carbon monoxide levels can drastically reduce oxygen delivery in the body, leading to heart problems or lung damage. Smoking also increases the risk of blot clotting and can lead to diabetes and high cholesterol.

What The Ban on Menthol Cigarettes Mean For the Black Community

Sadly, these cigarettes have been disproportionately marketed to the Black community for decades. Cigarette companies used deceptive advertisements and false information. Furthermore, companies created “exotic flavors,” which lured consumers in. Eventually, in 2009 a ban stated that tobacco companies could not create sweet-flavored cigarettes.

Honestly, the tobacco industry owes its success to the Black community. They would partner up with Black companies and influencers to help push the products into the community. For instance, the Truth Initiative found that in 2020, stores in predominantly Black neighborhoods would display tobacco ads ten times more likely in white neighborhoods.

Another alarming fact is that menthol dependence is higher among Black women. The health risks have most impacted black women from poverty-stricken and rural communities. A study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that Black women facing challenging socioeconomic barriers like low income, lack of education, and health resources relied heavily on menthol and tobacco products. Many of the women smoked menthol cigarettes within the first 5 minutes of waking up in the morning.

The CDC noted that Black Americans are more likely to die from tobacco-related illnesses because they possess higher cotinine levels in the bloodstream. Cotinine forms after the chemical nicotine enter the body. Persistent exposure to the compound can lead to bronchitis, asthma, or other diseases. Social factors can also exacerbate late diagnoses of cancers, lack of health care, and inconsistent medical treatment.

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Unfortunately, studies have found that people with asthma are at a greater risk of contracting pertussis, also known as whooping cough. And if they do, they may develop more severe symptoms of this disease including pneumonia, weight loss and rib fracture.

Pertussis is a very contagious bacterial infection that causes similar respiratory symptoms as a common cold, including runny nose, fever, and violent coughing. The disease usually spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes or when they spend a lot of time near others sharing the same breathing space.

According to the CDC, cases of pertussis in the U.S. have been rising since 2003 with a peak of 48,000 cases in 2012. And this doesn’t include the many cases that go undiagnosed and unreported.

So, what’s the best way to protect yourself from pertussis if you have asthma? The most effective way is to get the appropriate pertussis vaccination for your age. You may have received the pertussis vaccination as a child, teen or adult. But like most vaccines, immunity wanes over time and a booster is eventually needed.

If you can’t remember the last time you received a pertussis vaccination, you should talk to your doctor about getting one soon. The CDC recommends that all adults get a pertussis booster every 10 years.

You can also reduce your risk of contracting the disease by washing your hands frequently, staying home if you’re sick, and avoiding other people who are sick.

Another way to protect yourself is to stick with your asthma treatment plan. When your asthma is well controlled, it will help reduce your risk of complications if you do get a respiratory illness like whooping cough. And if you think that you could have pertussis, call your doctor right away.

This article is brought to you by Sanofi.

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Types of Influenza
There are 4 types of influenza viruses, but the 2 main types that impact people are influenza A and influenza B. These 2 types are responsible for most human illness and the flu strains that typically occur during the annual flu season. The currently approved seasonal flu vaccines protect against influenza A and B viruses known to cause epidemics. The CDC defines an epidemic as a sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease. This is what we observe each year during flu season. Global outbreaks spread over several countries or continents and impact a large number of people. Type A viruses are the only flu viruses known to cause outbreaks. There are clinical trials, such as the Odyssey Trial sponsored by Moderna, that are looking at investigational vaccines for global flu.

Seasonal Flu
Seasonal flu is considered an epidemic that occurs annually across the world. Flu season occurs every year during fall and winter (September through March) in the United States, with peak flu activity occurring between December and February. Seasonal flu is spread by coming in contact with an infected person. It can be spread by droplets in the air due to an infected individual coughing, sneezing, or talking. Prescription antivirals can be used for the treatment of the seasonal flu. Due to the constant exposure of new flu strains, the seasonal flu vaccine is updated every year based on scientific findings and research.

Global Flu Outbreaks
A global outbreak occurs when a new influenza A virus spreads over several countries or continents. The new virus is usually contagious with little to no immunity among people. Global flu virus strains differ from seasonal flu strains. Because fewer people will have immunity to the virus, it will likely infect more people even though it is spread in the same way as the seasonal flu.

Global flu outbreaks do not happen often. In the past 100 years, there have been 4 global flu outbreaks: the Spanish flu in 1918, the Asian flu in 1957, the Hong Kong flu in 1968, and the swine flu in 2009. The World Health Organization continually monitors flu viruses in an attempt to prepare for future flu outbreaks.

Flu viruses that have the potential to spread globally do not always result in global outbreaks. Flu viruses can mutate or transform. Scientists are able to track the evolution of flu viruses and monitor both seasonal flu strains and those with the potential to become global flu outbreaks.

Family and Community Impact
We are all familiar with the impact a global outbreak can have on our personal and collective lives. A global influenza outbreak could result in death and illness, and cause negative mental, social, and economic outcomes, especially among Black communities with higher rates of comorbidities. We can be proactive and work to potentially prevent future harm by collaborating with scientists to further investigational vaccine research by participating in clinical trials.

Help Advance Research by Joining a Clinical Trial
Consider joining a clinical trial, such as the Odyssey Trial, to help researchers study investigational vaccines that aim to prevent global influenza outbreaks.

To join the Odyssey trial, participants must:

• Be 18 years of age or older
• Have a body mass index between 18 kg/m2 and 39 kg/m2
• Not be pregnant

Visit OdysseyFluTrial.com to learn more and see if you qualify for clinical trial participation.

Reference Links:

History of influenza vaccination. World Health Organization, Types of Influenza Viruses. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lesson 1: Introduction to Epidemiology. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  How flu viruses can change: “drift” and “shift.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza (Flu). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Monitoring for Influenza Viruses. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Snell NJC. Pandemic Influenza — Prevention and Treatment: Past, Present and Future. Pharmaceut Med. 2010;24(1):1-6. doi:10.1007/BF0325679, Iskander J, Strikas RA, Gensheimer KF, Cox NJ, Redd SC. Pandemic influenza planning, United States, 1978-2008. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19(6):879-885. doi:10.3201/eid1906.121478

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According to the CDC, racism can show up in the way an individual patient is treated with stigma or bias by their doctor. Or it can show up in the larger structural barriers that, for instance, can make it more difficult for many communities of color to access affordable high-quality health care on an ongoing basis.

“These social determinants of health have lifelong negative effects on the mental and physical health of individuals in communities of color,” said CDC director Rochelle Walensky, M.D., M.P.H. in a statement. “Over generations, these structural inequities have resulted in stark racial and ethnic health disparities that are severe, far-reaching, and unacceptable.”

The organization also addressed the effects of the long term stress created by racism and how it impacts the health disparities seen in people of color, particularly Black people. Not only do they experience higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease, when compared to their White counterparts, but the life expectancy of non-Hispanic/Black Americans is four years lower than that of white Americans.

Additionally, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people have a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes, including death, according to CDC data. Black people are also more likely to die in childbirth, to die from melanoma, and to develop and die from colorectal cancer than white people. “The pandemic illuminated inequities that have existed for generations and revealed for all of America a known but often unaddressed, epidemic impacting public health: racism,” said Dr. Walensky.

While this news may overwhelming and not especially surprising (especially if you’re a person of color), there was a silver lining. The CDC also announced several new initiatives that they’re undertaking to address racism’s effects on public health, including more research, expanded infrastructure in communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and a new official CDC page dedicated to educating the public about the effects of racism on health.

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Black Health Matters: Why are we more prone to stress and how does that lead to poorer health?

David Williams: The reasons are many. There’s more air pollution in our communities because we live in closer proximity to factories. Living in areas of higher air pollution are associated with asthma. We have higher levels of financial stress. We postpone seeing the doctor because of finances. We have higher levels of community stress. Friends and relatives are making too many demands on [people of color]. We have higher levels of major life events, like, the death of a loved one or unemployment.

Let’s think of death of a loved one—even before the pandemic. Because of higher rates of death and earlier onset of disease, black children are three times as likely to lose their mother by age 10. Black adults are twice as likely to lose a child by age 30 and a spouse by age 60. 

The loss of social ties is often a loss of economic stability. COVID 19 has exacerbated all of these. 

BHM: This is a lot.

DW: There’s more. We live with higher levels of discrimination—stopped by police; work discrimination; everyday discrimination; little indignities, like, poorer service in restaurants and stores. This discrimination causes stress. Higher levels of stress is associated with higher rates of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, a lot of the health problems that have become risk factors for the pandemic. Discrimination increases all of the co-morbidities that increase risk of COVID-19.

BHM: In 2020 we saw the explosion of two pandemics: coronavirus and racism.

DW: Yes, on top of COVID-19, we’re dealing with the added stress of police killings. That’s another type of traumatic life experience. One study found that every police killing led to elevated levels of stress for the next three months. Another study found that youth who see race-related killings, arrests, beatings online have higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptoms. COVID plus the George Floyd killing contributed to high levels of stress in the black community.

BHM: A vaccine is the solution for COVID-19. What do we do about racism and stress?

DW: Reduce the risk of racism before it starts. That’s a bigger task. Research shows there are some resources that reduce the levels of negative effects of stress, including social ties, religious involvement. 

Research suggests those communities that were engaged in protest, engaged in challenging the federal government, while also maintaining a place in their communities to celebrate their cultural heritage had better mental health.

BHM: We can’t fix this problem alone. What can white folks do to mitigate this?

DW: We need to create environments of psychological safety. It’s where we go out of the way to ensure everyone feels acknowledged and appreciated, treated fairly and with respect, can express their beliefs without being judged unfairly or without fear of hurting their career.

Studies have shown it’s possible to implement interventions that reduce incivility. The kind of rudeness that sometimes exists—treating people discourteously or with disrespect. Interventions teach everyone how to treat everyone with respect. Research shows these interventions are successful, increase trust in management, reduce employee burnout.

BHM: What does research show about the biology of stress? 

DW: We know there are four main pathways by which stress impacts health in general. When individuals experience stress, they have negative emotions. For some people these negative emotions can lead to mental disorders. They can lead to higher levels of hypertension, depression.

Coping with negative emotional states that cause stress can lead people to engage in risky behaviors. They smoke more, drink more. They have poorer quality sleep or lower quality sleep. 

This can lead to declines in the use of and access to the medical care system. Lack of engagement is particularly true for discrimination. When you have been treated badly by social institutions, the health care system is just one more social institution. This leads to less likelihood of following doctors instructions or getting appropriate screenings.

BHM: So lack of access to health care is a significant stressor? 

DW: Absolutely correct that, in general, lacking access to health care can be a significant stress for families of color. I am embarrassed that I live in a country that does not guarantee what every other industrialized country offers their citizens: the right to medical care.

Some people can get into care, but incur a huge bill. Being unable to pay medical bills is the number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy in America. Communities of color have higher levels of mistrust of the health care system—it’s well founded based on historical instances. Tuskegee may be most striking, but it’s only one. We’ve been sterilized without permission, medicated without permission.

Research shows it’s not just that communities are disadvantaged because of lack of access. Even given access, communities of color receive poorer standards of care. Less quality of care, less intensity of care. Across every measure—from diagnosis to treatments—Blacks get poorer quality care. During COVID, Blacks with symptoms tried multiple times to get tested and couldn’t and ended up dying.

Racial disparities in health care are not the only disparities. Many people, irrespective of their race in rural poor communities, have problems of access and quality of care. Do we need to find ways to care for our rural communities of care across races? Yes, we do.

COVID is causing unemployment on a very large scale. Universities and hospitals may have major challenges, especially in poor communities, urban and rural. We’re looking at even worse access to and quality of care in the future. 

BHM: Talk to us about biological racism in the American educational system.

DW: A relatively recent study asked medical students and residents about different beliefs about Blacks, and some of them had to do with Blacks’ ability to tolerate pain and not feeling pain. Some had to do with the thickness of skin. What was shocking was the level of misinformation, the degree of myths that existed, even among health care professional. Pain is one for which there has been research on. 

Another study that looked at Latinos at UCLA Medical Center. It looked at long-bone fractures. Fifty-six percent of Latinos with long-bone fractures didn’t get any pain mediation compared to 26 percent of whites. Emory University repeated the study in Atlanta with Black patients and had the same results. Part of that is linked to implicit bias and the specific stereotype that minorities can tolerate pain. 

This pattern of receiving poorer care, this was most frequently documented in the treatment of heart disease. It’s not just about pain. Blacks are given inferior care across so many domains of medical care.

BHM: Are there models of interventions that are ideal to help communities deal with stress?

DW: Providing emotional support is a universal indicator of reducing stress. This can take place within the context of the family, community organizations, the workplace and religious communities. During the pandemic we’re told to socially distance, which means physically distance, not socially. Reaching out to folks at home who can’t get out emotional support is really powerful.

Physical exercise is very powerful in reducing stress. A 30- to 45-minute bout of exercise can be as effective as antidepressant medicines at reducing symptoms of mild depression. Getting quality sleep is important at reducing stress.

Finding ways to make sure people feel valued and cared for. This reduces not just the levels of stress, but also the impact of stress.

BHM: You mentioned earlier that pollution exposure can lead to greater risk of COVID-19. Talk about policies that lead to environmental racism.

DW: The historic most powerful policy is residential segregation by race. Residential segregation developed in the late 19th century and kept the white community from contact with the newly freed slave. It was perfected in the early 20th century and has been locked in place since the 1940s, and it hasn’t really changed. The fundamental structure of residential segregation leads to living in areas of higher air pollution and other toxic substances, but also to living in communities that lack opportunity. When segregation moves into an area, you don’t have high quality schools and you have lack of access to jobs, quality of housing, city services not there. Across the United States, when you rate communities by access to opportunities for children, two-thirds of African Americans and 60 percent of Hispanic kids live in low-opportunity neighborhoods. Two-thirds of whites and Asians live in high-opportunity neighborhoods.

In 99 percent of communities across America, a Black boy in a low-opportunity neighborhood who starts at the same level of income as a white boy, by the time he reaches adulthood, his opportunities will be less. 

We are kidding ourselves if we think we’re going to address racism without a Marshall plan to devote opportunities at a neighborhood level.

BHM: What should our leaders do?

DW: We need to target at the communities with greatest need. We look at income. But even looking at the income data, when we look at the economic reserves—for every dollar of wealth white households have, African American households have 10 pennies. We need to pay more attention to wealth, in terms of allocating assistance and emergency assistance. Long term, we have to step back and ask what are we doing to create long-term communities of opportunity? What are we doing to ensure schools give every child a fighting chance at success? How do we provide incentives so we can have businesses and jobs in those communities? When we have all Americans enjoying the best health they can, it strengthens our economy. It’s in the best interest of everyone to ensure this. 

The post Racism, Stress and Coronavirus appeared first on Black Health Matters.

She and her family live on a two-acre lot, off a partially dirt road, outside Louin, a Mississippi town of fewer than 300 people.

When schools closed in March, the Head Start teacher was able to stay home and take care of her 10 grandchildren, while her son and daughters worked frontline jobs.

That same month, Mississippi reported its first case of COVID-19. By April the virus had sickened Herron, her mother and her husband, a hospital worker. Her sister, a nurse, contracted the virus later that spring.

“The pandemic makes me worry more and pray more,” said Herron, 48. “I’m just thankful to God that my 75-year-old mother recovered and that my children and grandchildren didn’t get it.”

Initially spared as the pandemic ravaged the nation’s urban centers, many rural communities have become hot spots. For so many Black women living in those communities, the accumulated stresses from decades of systemic racism, high poverty rates and their roles as primary caregivers—and often breadwinners as frontline workers—have made them perfect targets for COVID-19.

Of the 20 U.S. counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates, six are in Georgia and Mississippi and two are majority black rural counties in Georgia, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

Rural residents tend to have higher rates of chronic health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, than urban dwellers, making them more susceptible to severe cases of COVID-19.

At the same time, many rural areas have under-resourced health-care systems, with fewer intensive care beds and doctors who specialize in critical care.

The situation is especially precarious for Black women, who tend to have more underlying health conditions, face bias in the health-care system and are less likely to have health insurance.

To cope, a growing number of Black women in rural communities are turning to mutual aid networks to help struggling families, especially where communities feel the government’s pandemic response falls short.

“On one level, COVID-19 has been devastating,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “But the beautiful thing about Black people, and the Black community in particular, is that we have always been the ones to come to our aid in crisis.”

Continue reading this article at Fierce for Black Women

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“That was all that was available,” said Brown, who lives in Kansas City, Kansas. “It was just a desperate place.”

When she became a parent, Brown left her job for lack of child care that would accommodate her daughter’s allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat and soy. When she and her husband then turned to a federal food assistance program, they found few allowable allergy substitutions. The closest allergy support group she could find was an hour away. She was almost always the only Black parent, and the only poor parent, there.

Brown called national food allergy advocacy organizations to ask for guidance to help poor families find safe food and medical resources, but she said she was told that wasn’t their focus. Support groups, fundraising activities and advocacy efforts, plus clinical and research outreach, were targeted at wealthier—and white —families. Advertising rarely reflected families that looked like hers. She felt unseen.

“In many ways, food allergy is an invisible disease. The burden of the disease, the activities and energy it takes to avoid allergens, are mostly invisible to those not impacted,” Brown said. “Black and other minority patients often lack voice and visibility in the health care system. Add the additional burden of an invisible condition and you are in a really vulnerable position.”

An estimated 6 million children in the United States have food allergies, 40 percent of them with more than one. Though limited research has been done on race and class breakdowns, recent studies show that poor children and some groups of minority children not only have a higher incidence of food allergies than white kids, but their families also have more difficulty accessing appropriate child care, safe food, medical care and lifesaving medicine like epinephrine for them.

Black children are 7 percent more likely to have food allergies than white children, according to a 2020 study by Dr. Ruchi Gupta, at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. To be sure, the study shows that Asian children are 24 percent more likely than white children to have food allergies. But Black and Hispanic children are disproportionately more likely to live in poor communities, to have asthma, and to suffer from systemic racism in the delivery of medical care.

And finding allergen-free food to keep allergic kids safe can be costly—in both time and money.

“Many times, a mother is frank and says, ‘I have $20 to $40 to buy groceries for the week, and if I buy these foods that you are telling me to buy, I will not be able to feed my entire family,’” said Dr. Carla Davis, director of the food allergy program at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital.

“If you are diagnosed with a food allergy and you don’t have disposable income or disposable time, there is really no way that you will be able to alter your diet in a way that your child is going to stay away from their allergen.”

Fed up with the lack of support, Brown founded the Food Equality Initiative advocacy organization in 2014. It offers an online marketplace to income-eligible families in Kansas and Missouri who, with a doctor’s note about the allergy, can order free allergy-safe food to fit their needs.

Nationwide, though, families’ needs far outstrip what her group can offer—and the problem has gotten worse amid the economic squeeze of the COVID pandemic. Job losses and business closures have exacerbated the barriers to finding and affording nutritious food, according to a report from Feeding America, an association of food banks.

Brown said her organization more than doubled its clientele in March through August, compared with the same period in 2019. And though it currently serves only Missouri and Kansas, she said the organization has been fielding an increasing number of calls from across the country since the pandemic began.

For low-income minorities, who live disproportionately in food deserts, fresh and allergy-friendly foods can be especially expensive and difficult to find in the best of times.

Food assistance programs are heavily weighted to prepackaged and processed foods, which often include the very ingredients that are problematic. Black children are more likely to be allergic to wheat and soy than white kids, and both Black and Hispanic children are more likely to be allergic to corn, shellfish and fish, according to a 2016 study.

Some programs allow few allergy substitutions. For example, the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children allows only canned beans as a substitute for peanut butter. While nutritionally similar, beans are not as easy to pack for a kid’s lunch. Brown questions why WIC won’t allow a seed butter, such as sunflower butter, instead. She said they are nutritionally and functionally similar and are offered as allergy substitutions in other food programs.

Making matters worse, low-income households pay more than twice as much as higher-income families for the emergency medical care their children receive for their allergies, according to a 2016 study by Gupta. The kids often arrive at the hospital in more distress because they lack safe food and allergy medications—and because asthma, which disproportionately hits Black and Puerto Rican children and low-income communities, complicates allergic reactions.

“So, in these vulnerable populations, it’s like a double whammy, and we see that reflected in the data,” said Dr. Lakiea Wright-Bello, a medical director in specialty diagnostics at Thermo Fisher Scientific and an allergist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Thomas and Dina Silvera, who are Black and Latinx, lived this horror firsthand. After their 3-year-old son, Elijah-Alavi, died as a result of a dairy allergy when fed a grilled cheese instead of his allergen-free food at his preschool, they launched the Elijah-Alavi Foundation to address the dearth of information about food allergies and the critical lack of culturally sensitive medical care in low-income communities.

“We started it for a cause, not because we wanted to, but because we had to,” said Thomas Silvera. “Our main focus is to bring to underserved communities—especially communities of color—this information at no cost to them.”

Recently, other advocacy groups, including Food Allergy Research & Education, a national advocacy organization, also have started to turn their attention to a lack of access and support in poor and minority communities. When Lisa Gable, who is white, took over at the group known as FARE in 2018, she began to diversify the organization internally and to make it more inclusive.

“There wasn’t a big tent when I walked in the door,” said Gable. “What we have been focused on doing is trying to find partners and relationships that will allow us to diversify those engaged in the community, because it has not been a diverse community.”

FARE has funded research into the cost of food allergies. It is also expanding its patient registry, which collects data for research, as well as its clinical network of medical institutions to include more diverse communities.

Gupta is now leading one of the first studies funded by the National Institutes of Health to investigate food allergy in children by race and ethnicity. It looks at all aspects of food allergies, including family life, management, access to care and genetics.

“That’s a big deal,” said Gupta. “Because if we really want to improve food allergy management, care and understanding, we really need to understand how it impacts different groups. And that hasn’t been done.”

From KHN

The post Black Children With Food Allergies Overlooked appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Here, two Rutgers New Jersey Medical School experts—associate professor Natalie E. Roche and assistant professor Damali Campbell-Oparaji, president of the New Jersey Medical Association—discuss how this could affect primary care access in minority communities and what effect the pandemic is having in those communities:

How has the pandemic affected minority-owned physician practices?

Campbell-Oparaji: Ninety percent of NJMA members reported reductions in income largely driven by fewer patient visits and surgeries; inadequate insurance compensation for telehealth visits; and a lack of technology and tech support, affecting doctors and patients alike, for a successful switch to telehealth.

Others had to reduce their office hours and lay off employees in part because of the doctors’ age, ethnicity and underlying medical conditions that put them at greater risk of COVID-19. Still, others contracted the virus themselves. Some doctors tried to stay afloat during the pandemic by applying for Payment Protection Program loans but were denied.

Even during economic booms, Black-owned businesses have suffered persistent discrimination and underinvestment. Lenders are less likely to approve loans for them. So it’s no surprise that many Black-owned private practices are suffering.

How would the mass closure of Black-owned medical practices affect communities of color?

Campbell-Oparaji: Minority communities have historically had mistrust in the health care system rooted in prior experiences of institutional racism. However, they often do trust minority physicians and turn to them for care and medical information.

Most of these practices accept Medicaid and Medicare and take uninsured patients who self-pay. The loss of minority-owned physician practices can make it more difficult for minority patients to access affordable, quality healthcare, and will likely widen health disparities.

How has COVID 19 affected minority communities?

Campbell-Oparaji: Reports show Black and other minority communities have higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death. This population is more likely to have exposure to COVID-19 because they are more likely to have jobs in the essential worker category, and are thus less likely to shelter at home.

Why has the impact of COVID-19 been so extensive in these communities?

Roche: Many factors have contributed to these disparities like access to care, medicines, and insurance coverage which existed before the pandemic as well as longer wait times to see healthcare providers.

Social determinants also play an important role. These include lower-income, food insecurity, housing insecurity, inability to socially distance at home, lack of access to personal protective equipment and other effects of systemic racism.

This population is more likely to have underlying medical conditions—such as obesity, asthma, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and cancer—which put COVID-19 patients at higher risk. People of color are more likely to be exposed to pollution in their living environments in addition to already experiencing higher death rates and reduced life expectancy, which are even more pronounced in the poorest populations.

What tips would you recommend for potential COVID-19 patients in communities that lack abundant access to health care and tests?

Roche: Follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations such as wearing face masks, washing hands, using hand sanitizers and cleaning surfaces with recommended cleaning products.

Communities can also reduce the costs of needed items by buying in bulk and sharing. Communities can protect the elderly by offering to help with shopping and prescription pick up, and help those who are not tech-savvy by sharing information about COVID 19 testing sites, food donations, safer public transportation practices, rent assistance, and phone assistance.

Patients should avoid isolation (while social distancing), keep up with medical appointments, and take their medications for acute and chronic conditions. All should learn the symptoms of COVID-19 and seek medical care promptly if symptomatic. If symptoms are severe, visit the emergency department immediately.

Patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 but have not been admitted to a hospital should monitor their symptoms because they can deteriorate quickly. They should make regular notes of temperature, heart rate and breathing.

Ask family and friends to help with wellness checks, food, transportation to medical care and interactions with medical professionals. Prevent the spread of the disease by self-isolating. Seek advice from a medical professional if self-isolation is not possible. Avoid dehydration, and do not forget to take care of other chronic medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

From Futurity

The post Black Doctors, Lost Office Space and COVID Disparities appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Unlike a football, however, pressure in your eye can’t be relieved by deflating. Instead, high eye pressures keep building until optic nerve fibers are permanently damaged and peripheral vision is lost. 

There are several types of glaucoma:

• Chronic open angle: This is caused by a gradual blockage of the drainage channel in your eye. Pressure builds slowly, leading to a gradual loss of side vision. This type of glaucoma progresses very slowly and is a lifelong condition.
• Acute closed angle: This type is caused by blockage of the drainage channel in your eye. Pressure increases suddenly, leading to nausea, blurred vision, severe pain and halos around lights. This type of glaucoma is a medical emergency; without immediate attention, permanent blindness occurs rapidly.
• Secondary: This type is caused by scar tissue from injury, infection, tumors, drugs or inflammation that blocks the drainage channel in your eye. As in chronic open angle glaucoma, this for progresses slowly, with the pressure causing a gradual loss of side vision.
• Congential: In this type of glaucoma, the eye fluid drainage system is abnormal at birth. Symptoms include enlarged eyes, cloudy corneas, sensitivity to light and excessive tearing. It must be treated soon after birth to save vision.

Worldwide, glaucoma affects more than 70 million people between the ages of 40 and 80. Risk factors associated with glaucoma include elevated intra-ocular pressure, age, family history, gender, ethnicity, central corneal thickness and impaired distant vision. That number is projected to jump to more than 111 million by 2040 due to the aging population. 

Though every race can develop glaucoma, a study from Eye Disease Prevalence Research Group showed that, in the United States, African Americans have a higher likelihood than their white counterparts of getting it. We are also more likely to be diagnosed with glaucoma at a younger age than people of other races. And men are more likely to have glaucoma than women. 

The reasons for our increased risk aren’t clear. One study found a prevalence of 7 percent in people of African descent, suggesting an ancestral connection. Other possible causes include physiological or anatomical differences in our corneas, environmental factors, social differences and genetics. Some studies suggest people with diabetes may be at higher risk of developing diabetes (the rate of diabetes in the Black community is at epidemic proportions), but this research isn’t definitive. 

If you’re worried about getting glaucoma, talk to your doctor about these concerns:

• Family history. Your risk of developing glaucoma may be three to four times higher if one or more of your parents or siblings have the disease.
• Lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle without regular exercise could increase your risk for glaucoma, according to one study. Smoking, alcohol intake and obesity also are potential lifestyle-related risk factors.
• Age. Your risk for developing glaucoma increases significantly after age 40 and continues to increase with each additional decade. This is partly because aging can cause drainage channels in your eye to shrink, which slows the outflow of fluid from the eye.
• Certain medical problems. Diabetes, extreme nearsightedness and previous eye surgery are risk factors for chronic glaucoma. If you have a condition that requires the use of oral or inhaled steroids for asthma, particularly if high doses are needed for prolonged periods, this can increase your risk, too. Other medical conditions that may increase your risk for glaucoma include migraine headaches, low blood pressure, narrowed blood vessels, cardiovascular disease and low cerebrospinal fluid pressure.
• Eye abnormalities. Certain abnormalities affecting internal eye structures can cause glaucoma. Pseudoexfoliation syndrome causes proteins in the eye’s natural lens, iris and other structures to slough off and clog the eye’s drainage system. Glaucoma also can result when a misshapen iris blocks the filtration angle where drainage occurs.

Research shows early treatment of glaucoma can cut the risk of worsening disease in half. And since glaucoma usually causes no symptoms, while at the same time stealing your sight, this is even more reason to have your eyes checked regularly. There is no cure for glaucoma and damage can’t be reversed, but treatment and regular eye exams can slow or prevent vision loss. Treatment options may include prescription eyedrops, oral medications, laser treatment, surgery or a combination of these.

Some lifestyle and home remedies may help you control high eye pressure or promote eye health:

• Eat a healthy diet. Your diet won’t prevent glaucoma from worsening, but it can help you maintain your health. Several vitamins and nutrients are important to eye health, including zinc, copper, selenium, and antioxidant vitamins A, C and E.
• Exercise safely. Regular exercise may reduce eye pressure in open-angle glaucoma. Talk to your doctor about an appropriate exercise regimen.
• Limit your caffeine. Beverages with large amounts of caffeine may increase eye pressure.
• Sip fluids frequently. Drink only moderate amounts of fluids at any given time during the course of a day. Drinking a quart or more of any liquid within a short time may temporarily increase eye pressure.
• Sleep with your head elevated. Using a wedge pillow that keeps your head slightly raised, about 20 degrees, has been shown to reduce intraocular pressure while you sleep.
• Take prescribed medicine. Using your eyedrops or other medications as prescribed can help you get the best possible result from your treatment. Use drops exactly as prescribed or your optic nerve damage could worsen.

—Kevin Pruitt, M.D.

The post What’s Your Glaucoma Risk? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

We are epidemiologists at Boston University. Our work is focused on the Black Women’s Health Study, a landmark investigation that has followed 59,000 African American women since 1995.

Previous data from our study showed racism experiences are associated with increased risks of premature birth, obesity, type 2 diabetes, uterine fibroids, adult-onset asthma and insomnia.

More recently, we wanted to see how racism might impact cognition in African American women. And we found women reporting the most racism scored lower on tests of cognitive function than those who reported few such experiences.

Here are the details: In 1997, and again in 2009, we asked participants about their experience with interpersonal and institutional racism.

For interpersonal racism, we asked questions like: How often do people act as if they were afraid of you?

For institutional racism, we asked: Have you been unfairly treated by police, or when looking for housing or a job?

Cognitive decline generally occurs at older ages. When the study began, half the participants were 38 or younger. Twenty years later, in 2015, the time was ripe to study cognitive aging.

More than 17,000 African American women, age 55 or older, participated. We asked them six questions to measure subjective cognitive function. Three questions asked if they had difficulties with memory, like remembering a short list of items. The other three asked about cognition difficulties, like following a group conversation.

Sixty percent of the women reported no difficulties with any of the six situations. Twelve percent reported difficulties with three or more. Those women scoring lowest also reported the highest level of everyday and institutional racism. The association between racism and poor cognitive function, our analysis suggests, might be partly attributable to increased depression or insomnia in the women who experienced the most racism.

A caveat: Our study, though large and statistically powerful, has a major limitation. As one might imagine, subjective cognitive function is a subjective measure. Although studies show subjective assessment is associated with objective measures of cognition—and is predictive of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease onset—purely objective measures would still be preferable.

What have other studies found on racism and cognition?

We found (only) three in the scientific literature. In the Minority Aging Research Study, with 407 African American participants, high levels of perceived racism were associated with worse global cognition. In the Health and Retirement Study, with 1,628 African Americans, discrimination scores were higher and cognitive scores lower in African Americans than white participants at baseline. Over six years of follow-up, more discrimination was associated with faster episodic memory decline.

The third study—the National Survey of Midlife Development, which included 796 African Americans—had contrasting results. Little difference existed between the reported discrimination in African Americans and whites. And discrimination was not associated with cognition in the combined sample.

We will continue to study how racism intersects with cognition in our study participants. As we go forward, we will develop better assessments of cognitive function, which is affected by many factors: good jobs, housing, medical care, quality education, fair policing, access to healthy food and safe neighborhoods.

The demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd indicate that better conditions for African Americans may finally start to happen. But even if that occurs, self-care is imperative to help stem the effects of racism and other stressors. To that end, we will orient our analyses to how individual actions—like exercise, spirituality or religious practices—might counteract the destructive effects of racism.

From The Conversation

The post Racism Linked to Cognitive Decline in Black Women appeared first on Black Health Matters.

At the same time, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed doing away with a longstanding practice of accounting for reductions in health-damaging pollutants beyond a regulation’s primary targets.

If approved, the new approach would only weigh the benefits of further reductions if they can be monetized or quantified.

A public comment period for the change went until August 3. If approved, the rule could go into effect by early fall.

Here, Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, digs into evidence for air pollution’s connection with diseases like COVID-19 and its disproportionate impact on poor communities:

The post Air Pollution Makes COVID-19 Worse appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Every so often an opinion poll goes around on social media asking if folks would want to know in advance if they carry genetic material that could cause a fatal disease. Most people say no. Some of these diseases are terrifying, and advanced knowledge about something for which there is no cure? No thanks.

I’ve been a health reporter for years and know full well that early detection is crucial. But I’ve never taken any of these polls. Honestly, I’ve never felt the need.

That stance was called into question when my mom contracted pneumonia.

While in the hospital being treated, her medical team noticed fluid buildup caused by a leaking valve. A cardiac catheterization showed no blockage in her arteries (“she has the arteries of a 17-year-old,” one cardiologist said in amazement). A trans-esophageal echocardiogram was equally uninformative. Yes, her mitral valve was leaking. No, they didn’t know why.

But maybe she was a candidate for a relatively new procedure to repair the valve. If so, she’d be good as new. To prepare for the new procedure, she needed an MRI.

The MRI showed Mom’s heart muscle was thicker than it should be. This led to a heart biopsy. And finally, a diagnosis: something called amyloidosis. My mom struggled to pronounce it for a while. It could cause heart failure, they said.

We learned that there are several types of amyloidosis, so we needed to find out which type of amyloidosis she had. There is light chain amyloidosis, which sounded suspiciously akin to a blood cancer to my health journalist’s ears. I couldn’t get a straight answer about this, even when the recommended therapy for this type of amyloidosis included chemotherapy. There is wild-type ATTR amyloidosis, which the doctors said typically occurs later in life. And hereditary ATTR (hATTR) amyloidosis, a genetic and rare form of the disease that affects about 50,000 people worldwide with about 3-4% of African Americans carrying a TTR gene variant (i.e., mutation) called Val122Ile (V122I).

There were a lot of tests involved to determine which kind of amyloidosis she had. One night she had to produce nine huge tubes of blood. Then there was the three-gallon jug to collect a week’s worth of urine; this was to test Mom’s kidneys. She was also scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy and a body X-ray.

There were also lots of questions about family history. Both my maternal grandparents suffered from congestive heart failure (CHF). My grandmother, who passed away at age 76, had diabetes, and though the link between diabetes and heart disease wasn’t discussed with her during her lifetime, CHF was listed as the cause of death on her death certificate. Granddaddy, once a smoker, battled emphysema and CHF the last two years of his life. Though he’d quit smoking before I was born, and had been nicotine free for nearly 40 years, his tobacco habit exacted a high price in the end. When he died at age 85, there’d been no mention of amyloidosis.

Knowing Family Medical History Is Key

While we waited for test results, a genetic counselor charted our family medical tree as best as she could. But as in many African American families, figuring out the tangled branches is a tall order. Even before being diagnosed with a disease we’d never heard of, there were gigantic holes in our family health history.

There’s the great-aunt who blamed her daughter’s death from asthma on a blister. High blood pressure and diabetes had run roughshod through generations of relatives, but nobody talked about the connection to heart disease. Scads of ancestors died without ever sharing their diagnoses. And this is all without taking into account the limitations 400 years of slavery and the difficulty African American families have in gathering complete medical knowledge.

Fortunately, blood test results solved the four-month-long mystery. My mom tested positive for a TTR gene variant associated with hATTR amyloidosis less than 12 hours before her bone marrow biopsy, rendering that painful test unnecessary.

I must note a couple of things so I don’t sound whiny and ungrateful: 1) Mom had been through so many tests—some invasive, a few pretty painful—so we were relieved to have a name for what ailed her, and 2) though four months of tests and questions seemed like a lot to us, her diagnosis came relatively quickly. hATTR amyloidosis often stumps folks in the medical community because its symptoms mimic so many other conditions, sometimes leaving patients suffering for years without a diagnosis.

It’s in the Genes

Our genetic counselor stressed the importance of understanding how hATTR amyloidosis can be passed down through families. Genetic counseling can help folks understand their chances of developing the condition, as well as make them familiar with the testing process and implications of a diagnosis. Genetic counselors also can help people understand the issues related to genetic testing—from personal risk to possible insurance impact— and can help determine if a genetic test may be right for them.

hATTR amyloidosis is caused by a variant or change in the TTR gene. This gene change affects the function of a protein called transthyretin (TTR). The condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, meaning a person needs to inherit only one copy of the affected gene from one parent in order to develop the disease. Everybody gets two copies of the TTR gene, one inherited from each parent. When one parent carries a variant in the TTR gene, each child will have a 50 percent chance of inheriting that variant. However, inheriting the TTR gene with a variant does not necessarily mean that he or she will develop hATTR amyloidosis.

My mom, one of six children, would need to discuss this with her siblings in the hopes they’d all get tested. She’d done the heavy lifting; they would need to have only a blood or saliva test to find out if they’d inherited the variant.

Our genetic counselor made it even easier. She supplied us with detailed information about hATTR amyloidosis and included geneticists in every city where family members reside. She also noted that a family member can inherit the TTR gene with a variant but having the variant does not mean hATTR amyloidosis is a given. Put simply: A person can carry the variant without ever developing the disease.

Still, only one of Mom’s siblings—her youngest sister—was tested (she doesn’t have the variant, so her only child, a son, doesn’t need the test). The remaining brothers and sisters have dragged their feet about testing, even though they all have young adult grandchildren on the verge of building lives and families. This information could be vital in their decision to have children—or not.

As much as I hate needles, I was tested last fall. What’s that saying? Knowing is half the battle. While I’m not showing any symptoms of hATTR amyloidosis, I did test positive for the genetic variant. The way I see it, my dark cloud is lined with a double layer of silver: I don’t have children, so this branch of the variant stops with me, and by knowing the results now, I’m better prepared should I start seeing signs of this disease down the road.

Genetic Testing 101

One option for genetic testing is through the Alnylam Act® program. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is sponsoring no-charge, third-party genetic testing, and counseling for individuals who may carry one of the 120 or more gene variants known to be associated with hATTR amyloidosis. The Alnylam Act program was created to provide access to genetic testing and counseling to patients as a way to help people make more informed decisions about their health While Alnylam provides financial support for this program, tests, and services are performed by independent third parties. Healthcare professionals must confirm that patients meet certain criteria to use the program. Alnylam receives de-identified patient data from this program, but at no time does Alnylam receive patient-identifiable information. Alnylam may use healthcare professional contact information for research purposes. Both genetic testing and genetic counseling are available in the U.S. and Canada. Healthcare professionals and or patients who use this program have no obligation to recommend, purchase, order, prescribe, promote, administer, use or support any Alnylam product. In addition, no patients, healthcare professionals, or payers, including government payers, are billed for this program.

For more information about hATTR amyloidosis and genetic testing, please visit Alnylam’s The Bridge® and Alnylam Act.

For additional information and support check these resources:
o Amyloidosis Foundation: amyloidosis.org
o Amyloidosis Support Groups: amyloidosissupport.org
o Amyloidosis Research Consortium: arci.org
o The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy: www.foundationforpn.org/
o National Organization for Rare Disorders: rarediseases.org
o Global Genes: globalgenes.org

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals does not endorse and is not responsible for the content on sites that are not owned and operated by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Content sponsored and provided by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Intended for U.S. audiences only.

The Bridge and Alnylam Act are registered trademarks of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. © 2023 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All rights reserved.

TTR02-USA-01004-V3

The post We Have What? hATTR Amyloidosis: My Family’s Journey appeared first on Black Health Matters.

One small study shows asthma doesn’t raise the chances of getting infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. But if you do get sick, your symptoms could be more severe than other people’s because you already have trouble breathing.

Black Health Matters hosted a Facebook Live with Michael A. Lenoir, a San Francisco-area allergist and pediatrician with a special interest in asthma in the African American community, to talk about the confluence of coronavirus and asthma and the effects on Black folks. This is an edited transcription of that event.

Black Health Matters: Many people who have COVID and end up on ventilators stay that way for an extended period of time. I’ve spoken with people who had COVID and they say it’s incredibly difficult to recover, even after the cough has subsided. They feel they have to exercise their lungs because theres residual damage. Is that true?

Michael A. Lenoir, M.D.: Absolutely, it is true. It is like a battlefield. When the war is over, the battlefield still looks terrible. The body’s response to infections is to send a group of cells into the area and try to fight the virus. The byproduct of that fight is often scarring in the areas where the battle took place. That decreases lung volume available. Consequently, it may take weeks to months before they’re able to get back to the ability of oxygenation as quickly or significantly as they did before. 

BHM: Is there anything you can do to help the lung heal?

Dr. Lenoir: It is very difficult. Like I said, it’s a battlefield. Until the battlefield is cleaned up in that part of the lung, you will have some problems. You can do respiratory exercises, but sometimes it’s not possible to speed up that process. It is like if you hurt your knee or your wrist—it just takes a while before the body is able to come back to its full function. 

BHM: Could you also speak to us on why asthma is so unmanaged in the African American populations?

Dr. Lenoir: What is interesting to me is when the statistics started to come out about the impact of coronavirus on the African America community, America was surprised. As Black doctors, we were not surprised because from every condition—from the cradle to the grave, any chronic problem—African Americans are sicker and dying more often. You can take diabetes, hypertension, or any chronic disease. 

Usually there are basically three principles that make it difficult for African Americans: One is pre-existing conditions. That means we have chronic diseases of all types—not the right diet and sometimes we don’t get the right care. Consequently, people with diabetes, hypertension or any other chronic pneumonias will have much more trouble with asthma and this virus. 

The second thing is social determinants of health. [This includes] where we live, how we live. We [live] in areas of the country where environmental waste is a big issue, environmental injustice. We live around polluted areas, we live around factories, we live close together, we live where it’s impossible to get the standard social distance. How are you going to socially distance in the projects? My brother, who lives in New York, lives in a place on Columbus Avenue, 700 people in that building. How are you going to social distance in a situation like that? Also, when you talk about asthma and its triggers—dust, animals and other things in the areas we live in—we have a lot of environmental triggers where we live. People can’t avoid [those triggers]. 

Finally, it is how we are treated in the health care system. That is why Black Health Matters was founded. That is why we founded certain organizations because we don’t get the same kind of care other people get. We don’t get the same operations. We don’t get the same medications because we are Black. And there is no reason other than that. There is no genetic differences in how coronavirus impacts people. We just happen to be in worse shape in so many instances when the virus hits. 

These three big issues issue: pre-existing conditions, social determinants of health and racism. These three elements contribute to not only coronavirus, but to asthma and every other chronic disease.

I don’t want them to try to decide between me, as an African American, and someone else about who gets the ventilator. If we (African Americans) get as mad about health care, inferior and poor quality treatment as we do when we get cut off in Safeway, we wouldn’t have this problem. 

BHM: I understand people often ask about masks. There are variety of masks—paper, the N-95, even bandanas. What is most effective?

Dr. Lenoir: The studies have shown, [including] an article in Science about two weeks ago, the surgical mask is the best mask for you to have. If you can get a surgical mask, that is the best. The N-95 masks is a good mask. But basically, it is about how it fits. That is why cloth mask are pretty good and shields are good. The worst kind of mask is the one with the tube on the front of it so you can breathe in and out because it may protect you, but you’re breathing out into the atmosphere and it doesn’t protect other people.

BHM: What happens when you have a loved one who is hospitalized with COVID and you can’t have access? What do you do?

Dr. Lenoir: You talk to the doctor. Ask them specific questions and demand the answers. Doctors are sometimes intimidated when African Americans ask questions. Unless you ask these questions, I can guarantee you are not going to get the consideration you need to get the best possible outcome.

BHM: You were one of the first physicians actually recruiting people of color to be in clinical trials. What is your opinion about COVID vaccines? Do you feel enough African Americans will be in the clinical trials? What do we need to be aware of? 

Dr. Lenoir: For years I was working on the NMA (National Medical Association) project, called Project Impact, which was to increase the number of African Americans in clinical trials. Sometimes, we as a cultural group respond differently to medications. 

As far as this vaccine situation is concerned, I would tell people that you are probably at more risk now than when it all started because all of the things that have happened. Certainly, the opening up of the society and the marches around the issue we are faced with recently. The virus will spread more rapidly than it has over the last two or three weeks because all these people coming together. So the only time I think we will be safe is if we have a vaccine. A safe vaccine is the only thing that  will stop this pandemic.

But the vaccine has to go through certain steps before African Americans will feel comfortable with it. It has to be looked at for not only efficiency that it works, but for safety. Until a safe vaccine is available, none of us will be comfortable. And I think we’re going to have to plan to stay in place, plan to wear mask, plan to be careful with our washing our hands and doing things until there is a vaccine. 

Once there is a vaccine, there will be a great debate in the African American community. We are already dying of diseases that long ago could have vanished in our community if vaccinations were part of the solution. Vaccinations work. I think most people have not been able to face the reality of what happens when we don’t have a vaccine until COVID-19 came along. We had the luxury of not getting the flu vaccine, but now we see what happens when the society in not vaccinated and gets an infection.

BHM: I want to travel. I miss not being able to take a vacation. What are your thoughts about going to the Caribbean or Mexico during this pandemic?

Dr. Lenoir: I think you are stuck in place. I don’t think there’s a safe way to travel. As bad as it is here, if you go to some of these other countries, they are not reporting the cases. They are not sheltering in place. They are not standing 6 feet apart. They are not doing any of those things. I think the places we love to travel are going to be difficult. It will be a long time before I get on a cruise ship. It will be a shorter time before I get on a plane. But I think for right now, traveling Is not going to be a real option. You’d better learn what’s in your area and try to do those things—state parks and things you passed over. I don’t think we will travel safely until there’s an effective vaccine

BHM: What gets you excited about advances in caring for people with chronic pulmonary diseases or asthma? What can patients look forward to in 2021?

Dr. Lenoir: I think there is so much out there we are not taking advantage of. Too often what happens is when we get a condition, there are usually a series of treatments doctors know about that we don’t get. For instance, with asthma, most of our patients use albuterol. Albuterol is a dangerous drug if you use it as your only treatment for asthma. It is a rescue medicine. It is not a maintenance medicine. 

The reason people have asthma is because there are cells that move into the lung, set up shop and release chemicals. These chemicals cause the airways to close. What albuterol does is to open up the airway regardless what closes it, but it does nothing for what we called pathophysiology of the problem. There are a number of effective ways we can reduce the inflammation in the lungs. But too often, because of the fact that we are not prescribing these medicines, or we are not adherent to the medical regiment given for these chronic problems or it falls by the wayside after a while, we are not getting the kind of care we need. 

There is treatment out there for any degree of asthma that can reduce the significance of the symptoms you have. Nobody should be in hospital from asthma these days. Just days off work and African Americans are at the top of the list. And certainly nobody should die. But every day 10 people die from asthma, largely in the African American community, because we don’t follow the regiment, or we don’t get it. 

New treatments for asthma are coming out every day. We call them biologics, drugs that you can take for serve and retractable asthma. Most of us with asthma don’t get to that point. Because we don’t do the things that would build us to where we could take advantage of these drugs if other drugs don’t work. 

One of the first things I have to ask patients when they aren’t doing well is, ‘Are you taking the medicine I gave you in the first place?’ Too often, before you make a change in medication, you’ll find medications are not being used properly. 

BHM: You work to help educate other physicians about diseases prevalent in the African American community. Can you speak to us about that work?

Dr. Lenoir: My parents—my mother was a social worker in Rosewell Hospital in New York City, and my dad was a YMCA executive—so being involved in the community was expected of us as we grew older. As a doctor it enraged me to see African Americans treated differently than other people. Sometimes, it is so subtle people don’t even recognize it. 

Look, obviously there are health disparities—hypertension, diabetes and other things that impact us uniquely because we are African Americans. So we decided to put together an organization that gave people the tools to deal with the health care system. Really quickly, you’ve got to have an advocate when you go into the hospital or the system. But it shouldn’t be your brother or sister or cousin. It should be someone who knows something about health because when they start asking questions about the health system, the health system responds much more effectively. If you don’t have an advocate in the health system, you are done for.

You stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. You stay healthy and put your best foot forward … so you can have the ability to fight whatever comes.

The post Are Asthma Sufferers More Likely to Get COVID-19? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Am I at a higher risk for catching COVID-19 if I have kidney disease?
The CDC has identified the following groups more at risk for COVID-19:

• older adults
• any people with the following medical conditions
  • diabetes
  • heart disease
  • HIV 
  • asthma 
  • chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis
• pregnant women

If you are a kidney patient who has had a transplant and are taking immunosuppressant medications, you may also be at a higher risk. Take these steps, recommended by the CDC, to reduce your risk of catching COVID-19. 

What kidney-friendly foods should I stock up on?

• Get tips and shopping list for a 3-day emergency diet.
• Visit Kidney Kitchen for a shopping list of food items to stock in your fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Is food delivery safe?
Cooking at home is your best option, but there are many services that deliver groceries to your home. If you do order out, choose a healthy diet with limited phosphorus, potassium and salt.

What should I do if I feel sick?

If you feel sick, call your health-care team right away.

Are dialysis clinics open and should I go to treatments?

Dialysis clinics are still open. Dialysis clinics are taking precautions with your safety in mind, including social distancing in reception areas. If there are changes in your clinic’s hours or to your dialysis schedule, your team will contact you. If you are not sure about schedules, procedures or just have questions, call your clinic. You should not miss treatment. Your immune system is stronger when your blood is clean.

How can I get emergency dialysis?

Call your dialysis center. They will find a way to fit you into their schedule or refer you to another nearby center.

What can I do if COVID-19 is giving me anxiety and this sudden change in daily routine is making me depressed?

If you are on dialysis and have a social worker, talk to your social worker; they are trained to help you navigate your emotions. If you do not have a social worker, call your insurance provider to see if mental health counseling is covered in your benefits and if telehealth is an option.

You can also reduce anxiety with:

• mindfulness: paying attention to the present, not the past.
• meditation 
• breathing exercises 
• exercising 
• limiting or eliminating caffeine 
• getting adequate sleep 
• journaling

In addition to the kidney-specific advice above, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent recommends that everyone do their part to help us respond to this public health threat.

• Use a cloth face covering to keep people who are infected but do not have symptoms from spreading COVID-19 to others. The recommended cloth face coverings are not surgical masks or N95 respirators. Medical face masks are critical supplies that should be reserved for health-care workers and other first responders.
• Keep 6 feet between you and others.
• Wash your hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds whenever you’ve been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets and sinks.
• If surfaces are dirty, clean them: Use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.

The organizations below are providing updates on COVID-19. Check each organization’s website regularly as new information and resources become available.

• American Kidney Fund
• Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition
• DaVita
• American Association of Kidney Patients

The post Coronavirus FAQs for Kidney Patients appeared first on Black Health Matters.

But many of us knew better. Coronavirus doesn’t care about the race or ethnicity of its victims, but longstanding disparities in black communities are creating a crisis within a crisis.

Normally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks viral outbreaks and releases data about the age, race and location of the people affected. But for the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC has released only location and age data, remaining silent on race, despite requests for demographic information from doctors, lawmakers and media.

So far, only a handful of states, including North Carolina and Illinois, are releasing their coronavirus racial data. But this limited data reveals exactly what we feared: The virus is having a significant impact on black communities across the country. 

As of Sunday, April 5, black folks, who make up 29 percent of the population in Chicago, were 70 percent of the COVID-19 deaths in that city. Though we are only 14 percent of the population in the state of Michigan, we make up 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths there, with the highest concentrations of cases in the largely black counties around Detroit. Similar numbers show we are disproportionately affected in Atlanta; Milwaukee; Charlotte, North Carolina; some boroughs in New York City, particularly the Bronx; and New Orleans.

Who didn’t see this coming? Generations of limited access to health care, and a toxic brew of income inequality, lack of insurance, and environmental and political issues leave black communities vulnerable to a higher risk of chronic conditions and with a deep mistrust of the medical community and few resources.

“COVID is just unmasking the deep disinvestment in our communities, the historical injustices and the impact of residential segregation,” Camara Jones, epidemiologist and visiting fellow at Harvard University, told ProPublica. “This is the time to name racism as the cause of all of those things. The overrepresentation of people of color in poverty and white people in wealth is not just a happenstance. … It’s because we’re not valued.”

Jones is correct. A whole host of disparities are contributing to these concerning coronavirus statistics:

• Black communities have less access to coronavirus testing. Last month, a group of doctors in Virginia expressed concern about this. “I want to make sure that in this pandemic, black and brown people are treated in the same way and that these tests are made available in the same pattern as for white people,” said Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Virginia.
• We are more likely to suffer underlying health conditions that make COVID-19 infections more serious, including heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, obesity and some cancers.
• Lower-income areas—which are more likely to have large populations made up of people of color—have limited access to quality health care. When we do see a doctor, our complaints often are ignored and our pain minimized.
• Lower-income workers are less likely to have health insurance. They’re also more likely to hold jobs where they are considered essential workers who can’t work from home. These jobs often don’t offer paid sick leave.
• Substandard housing, multiple people living in the same house and homelessness all make it easy for coronavirus to spread. 

So where do we go from here? “In terms of who is at risk, who gets sick—it is too late,” Leigh University’s Sirry Alang, who studies health disparities, told Axios. “But there are things we can do to mitigate the impact.” 

Those mitigating factors include incorporating voices of people of color in shaping a response of justice and equity, forming partnerships between public health officials and  trusted community organizations to tailor messages about prevention and treatment, and a commitment to transportation and affordable public housing.

As of Sunday night, more than 337,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with the death toll closing in on 10,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country has the highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Globally, more than 1.2 million people have been infected.

For more information about coronavirus, and tips to take care of you and your family, check the Black Health Matters Coronavirus Hub.

The post Coronavirus Hits Black Communities Hard appeared first on Black Health Matters.

I am a physician who studies health disparities and ways to improve health-care delivery. My work focuses on people of color, including those who are black and indigenous. Improving health-care delivery for these groups of people is a complicated and multi-layered task, but solutions exist. One of them is to increase the probability that minorities see doctors of their race or ethnicity, which I refer to as patient-provider racial and ethnic concordance. I have partnered with Prof. Edwin Lindo, a critical race theorist, to help explain why.

Building trust is key. In the current workforce, diversity among physicians is limited. That can lead to mistrust in doctor-patient relationships, even during routine checkups. Black patients, for instance, may feel more wary with a white doctor than a black doctor, and white doctors may feel less comfortable caring for minoritized patients. Mounting evidence suggests when physicians and patients share the same race or ethnicity, this improves time spent together, medication adherence, shared decision-making, wait times for treatment, cholesterol screening, patient understanding of cancer risk, and patient perceptions of treatment decisions. Not surprisingly, implicit bias from the physician is decreased.

A Stanford University study paired black men in Oakland, California, with either black or non-black doctors. The men seen by black physicians were more likely to engage with them, and even consent to preventive services like cardiovascular screenings and immunizations.

And, the study found that black doctors were more inclined to write detailed notes about their black patients. Those men who had the least trust in the medical system—and the least exposure to it—benefited the most from racial/ethnic concordance. The study estimates this approach could reduce the black-white mortality gap due to heart disease by 19 percent.

But what happened in Oakland is not going to happen anytime soon across the U.S. Based on the latest figures, white doctors make up 56 percent of the physician workforce, with Asian doctors at 17 percent. Just under 6 percent are Hispanic doctors. Only 5 percent are black doctors. Yet by 2042—just over 20 years away—the combined minority population is set to become the majority in the U.S.

Based on those numbers, it will be difficult for the physician workforce to mirror the population in the near future. But given the benefits of a more diverse workforce, all educational and medical institutions – from grade school through completion of medical training – should invest in building a more diverse workforce.

In the meantime, there is another way to augment patient-provider racial/ethnic concordance: Increase the presence of minority providers who are part of a team-based model of care, including registered nurses, doulas, certified nurse midwives and nurse practitioners.

Another way to potentially improve care for minority patients is to better understand the effect of other forms of patient-provider social concordance, such as shared immigrant status, religion, LGBTQ+ status, socioeconomic background or disability. Discordant patient-provider interactions can be improved by training more culturally and structurally competent doctors.

Finding a minority doctor. Since the health-care workforce won’t reflect America’s true diversity anytime soon, here are a few tips to find a minority physician:

• Ask family or friends for recommendations. Look for online photos posted by your health-care provider, or request someone who speaks your native language. Check out the new phone apps: HUED connects patients with minority physicians and offers patient reviews of them. Ayana matches users with licensed mental health therapists based not only on race and ethnicity but disability and LGBTQ+ status.
• If seeing a doctor who’s your race or ethnicity isn’t an option, there are still ways you can advocate for yourself in health-care settings:
  • • Write down your doctor’s name. Just knowing that can build rapport and increase accountability.
    • If you need a language interpreter, request one.
    • Bring family or friends with you. Studies show that accompanying family and friends can serve as patient advocates and that their presence has a positive influence on building rapport and increasing patient participation according to doctors.
    • Ask for a chaperone during physical exams. Like an interpreter, a patient request for a chaperone is widely accepted in today’s health care system.
    • Ask for and review documentation of your medical visit. You will need it in case of medical error, or if your physician wrongfully refuses to offer an appropriate service or treatment.
    • If you have a negative experience with a doctor, say something. Speak with a supervisor. Do something: Join a patient advisory council. Even giving feedback anonymously through a suggestion box helps. That can be enough to give employers adequate grounds to act on racist or difficult physicians. Positive feedback also helps; minority physicians too are subject to discrimination.
    • If you’re black and pregnant, create a birthing plan and surround yourself with the best possible team of health-care providers.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to achieve the best possible health outcomes for everyone, regardless of the race or ethnicity of patients and doctors. Minority patients should be able to trust their white physicians, and white physicians should be able to take equally good care of minoritized patients. Minoritized physicians should not bear the burden of eliminating health disparities. Until then? As long as structural racism exists within the health-care industry, a minority patient should consider the benefits of a same-race or same-ethnicity doctor.

—Ryan Huerto

From The Conversation

The post Black Patients Benefit From Black Doctors appeared first on Black Health Matters.

But there are key differences in symptoms. Seasonal allergies can cause sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes and cough. Yet unlike allergies, coronavirus causes a fever, with other symptoms including cough and shortness of breath.

When seeking relief, people with allergies who are concerned about heart disease or high blood pressure must be especially careful when taking blood pressure-raising, over-the-counter decongestants. They’re also stimulants, which can increase heart rate.

But determining the extent of the direct connection between allergies and heart health is a topic that needs more research. A look at two studies offers examples of differing conclusions.

A 2016 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined the relationship between airborne allergen concentrations and emergency room visits for heart attacks in Ontario, Canada, from 2004-2011. The study found the risk of having a heart attack was 5.5 percent higher on days with the highest pollen levels compared to days with the lowest levels. Heart attack risk was highest in May and June, when tree and grass pollen are most common.

“There appears to be an association between seasonal allergies and cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Laurence Sperling, the Katz Professor in Preventive Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “This is an area where further investigation is needed.”

The results contrast to findings from another 2016 study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, which found patients with physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, had a significantly lower risk for heart attack than patients without hay fever. That study looked at Kaiser Permanente Southern California patients from 1999-2012.

“Other allergic conditions such as asthma have been shown in several studies to have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, so it was a little surprising to us that we found this association,” said Dr. Angelina Crans Yoon, the study’s lead author. “We thought frankly it would be the opposite.”

Crans Yoon, an allergist and immunologist, said patients were still more likely to have high blood pressure, despite a smaller chance for heart attack. “Since then, a couple other studies have come out that kind of show a similar association,” she said.

One potential reason for her study’s findings, she said, was patients with hay fever had more frequent visits to the doctor, which could lead to more blood pressure screenings. In turn, that could lead to a patient being prescribed medication to reduce high blood pressure.

Like Sperling, Crans Yoon said the topic overall needs more research. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease can build over time, so even studies that follow patients for more than a decade may not capture a complete picture.

And her advice for patients still hasn’t changed.

“It’s not that having the allergies or suffering through it makes you stronger or anything like that,” said Crans Yoon, of Dignity Health Medical Foundation in Davis, California.

“Working to reduce your cardiovascular risk factors—eating a healthy diet, exercising and getting enough sleep—all those things that are important for your overall health are still very important whether you have allergies or not,” she said.

Other general tips for allergy sufferers:

• Keep doors and windows closed and run the air conditioner during pollen season.
• Change clothes and take a shower after being outside.
• Antihistamines can help clear congestion and are safer for the heart than decongestants.

“Individuals with high blood pressure or known heart disease should be cautious with, or avoid, decongestants,” Sperling said. “It is always a good idea to check with your doctor before taking an over-the-counter medication for seasonal allergies.”

Seeing a physician or allergist can also help people identify allergy triggers, Crans Yoon said, which can help allergy sufferers reduce exposure and anticipate when to take medication.

If you think you have more than just allergies, contact your physician and follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about what to do if you suspect you have or have been exposed to COVID-19.

From American Heart Association News

The post Navigating Pollen Season Amid Coronavirus Fears appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Everywhere you turn lately it seems you’re told to lead a healthy lifestyle. But what does that really mean?

If you’re thinking, “eat right and exercise,” you’re partly right. Physical activity and the right diet are a big part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, Karen Basen-Engquist, director of the Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in an interview.

But it’s more than that. Living healthy includes these six steps:

1. Maintain a healthy weight. What matters about your weight is the amount of body fat you’re carrying. A higher percentage of fat puts you at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. What contributes to your weight? Several factors, including diet, activity levels, genetics and age. Here are ways to stay lean:

• Move. Aim for at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate aerobic exercise—or an hour and 15 minutes of strenuous physical activity—each week. Mix it up with strength training at least two days a week.
• Avoid too much sitting. Even if you get in a 30-minute workout before heading to work in the morning, sitting at a desk the rest of the day can pose health risks. Recent research has linked a sedentary lifestyle to diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer. Break up your work day by taking a five-minute walk each hour.
• Eat healthy foods. Lots of fruits and vegetables is key to living healthy, so try to fill two-thirds of your plate with produce. You should also limit red meat, skip sugary drinks, avoid processed meats, avoid processed foods and drink lots of water.

2. Get your beauty rest. We can’t live or function well without sleep, and numerous studies show a lack of it leads to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems, including cancer. Most adults should get seven to eight hour of sleep every night. Having trouble sleeping? These good sleep habits can help.

3. Stay away from tobacco. Research shows tobacco use causes 25 percent to 30 percent of cancer deaths. Despite the risks, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says roughly one in five adults still smokes. Here’s what you should know: All tobacco products, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes included, contain cancer-causing chemicals. Using tobacco in any form circumvents a healthy lifestyle. You should also stay away from secondhand smoke. It has been associated with asthma, heart disease and causes lung cancer in non-smokers.

4. Be sun smart. We can’t stress enough the importance of using sunscreen to avoid skin cancer. Still, most people, especially those of us with a little melanin in our skin, skip sunscreen. Even when we do use it, we don’t apply enough, don’t reapply it often enough and forego it completely during the cold months. These are all mistakes. To protect your skin, apply a generous amount of sunscreen on every part of your body exposed to the sun. Reapply it liberally every two hours (more often if you’re sweating or swimming). Avoid direct sunlight between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun’s UV rays are most powerful. Wear protective clothing, such as a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.

5. Drink alcohol in moderation. Excess alcohol consumption has been linked to several cancers, including breast cancer and esophageal cancer. If you don’t drink, don’t start. If you do, stick to one drink a day for women or two for men.

6. Get screened. Cancer screening exams, medical tests done when you don’t have any signs of illness, can help detect cancer early, when the chances for successful treatment are greatest. Talk to your doctor about which exams are right for you.

Sound overwhelming? No worries. You don’t have to make all of these changes overnight. Start with just one or two of these healthy habits. Then gradually add the others, and before you know it, you’re living healthy.

The post Living Healthy appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The post Flu Season Tips appeared first on Black Health Matters.

If working out makes you wheeze, you’re not alone. People with exercise-induced asthma have airways that are overly sensitive to temperature and humidity. And the upper respiratory infections common in winter can exacerbate the problem.

Here are five precautions to take if you have exercise-induced asthma:

1. Use asthma medications. A short-acting beta-2 agonist, such as albuterol, inhaled 15 to 20 minutes before exercise, can prevent airway spasms for several hours. A long-acting bronchodilator will hold off triggers for 12 hours.
2. Do 10-minute warm-ups and cool-downs. This helps your airways adjust and is a good idea whatever the temperature.
3. Breathe through a scarf. While exercising, wrap a scarf around your nose to help pre-warm the air as you breathe harder.
4. Don’t exercise outside in frigid temperatures. Take your workout inside a gym or to a yoga studio.
5. Don’t exercise when you have a cold. Give yourself time to recover before exercising, especially if you have a cough or other upper respiratory issues.

Maintaining optimal control over exercise-induced asthma requires teamwork. So consider seeing a primary care sports medicine physician to help you keep your asthma controlled when you exercise.

The post 5 Ways to Exercise With Asthma appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Your children were vaccinated a lot when they were young, and those shots have helped protect them from disease. You probably think you’re done with immunizations. But there are some vaccines your teenagers should get to make sure they stay healthy because some illnesses become a bigger threat as children grow. Ask your pediatrician about later childhood shots, because he or she might not be as proactive about these.

HPV. The human papillomavirus, or HPV vaccine, protects against viruses that cause genital warts and cancers of the cervix, anus, penis, mouth or throat. Health professionals recommend that all teens—girls and boys—have three doses, but federal health officials say most still don’t get them. And there’s a newer HPV vaccine. The current ones protect against either two or four strains of HPV; the newer vaccine protects against nine different strains, including types 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58, which cause about 15 percent of cervical cancers. Mixing the vaccines is OK, so if your child started on one of the older vaccines, the three-shot series can be finished with the new one.

Meningitis. All teens should be vaccinated against bacteria that causes meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is a serious manifestation of infection with Neisseria meningitides bacteria, an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It’s a serious infection, killing one in 10 of those infected. Another 20 percent are left with severe disabilities, including amputations. If your child got one dose at age 11 or 12, she should get a second dose when she reaches high school age—about 16. Though rare, meningitis can spread through casual contact, like kissing or sharing food and drinks.

Tdap. The combined tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine is the adult version of Dtap, the shot all kids got in elementary school. This is an important booster, because teens are still at risk for whooping cough, and Dtap wears off over time. Pregnant women should also get Tdap because it can protect their newborn until the baby is old enough to get vaccinated. Tdap also help prevent tetanus, a toxic bacteria that is transmitted through cuts or wounds (like stepping on a rusty nail). The infection can cause painful muscle spasms, breathing problems, paralysis and even death.

Influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone ages 6 and older get a flu shot every year. This is because the flu virus changes every year. If your preteen has diabetes or asthma, this is especially important, since the flu is more dangerous for them. Teens can get a shot or, for the needle phobic, the nasal spray.

No matter your child’s age, you should keep track of his immunization record and talk to your pediatrician, since the recommendations change frequently. Don’t worry if your child is more than a month behind on her vaccines; she can catch up. Don’t let cost stop you from keeping your child protected. The Affordable Care Act requires all insurers, public and private, to pay for ACIP-recommended vaccines without a co-pay. And the Vaccines for Children program provides vaccines free of charge to children without insurance. More than 40,000 clinics and pediatricians’ offices are enrolled in this program.

The post Protect Your Teens appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Children with asthma tend to experience worse symptoms at the same times every year: when school starts in the fall and after spring or Easter break.

Researchers previously attributed the problem to environmental factors, such as air quality in schools, but a recent study cites the common cold as the main culprit of seasonal waves of worsening asthma symptoms, which can lead to hospitalizations.

Exacerbations, the medical term for worsening asthma symptoms, cause millions of missed work and school days and cost $50 billion in direct health-care costs in the United States each year, according to researchers.

“This work can improve public health strategies to keep asthmatic children healthy,” said Lauren Meyers, professor of integrative biology and statistics and data sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. “For example, at the riskiest times of year, doctors could encourage patient adherence to preventive medications, and schools could take measures to reduce cold transmission.”

Earlier studies looking into the cause of exacerbations involved swabbing individual patients to detect viruses, but Meyers, a mathematical biologist, and her team studied population-wide patterns of how common colds circulate among adults and children throughout the year to learn about the role of the viruses.

The researchers then built a computer model incorporating possible drivers of asthma exacerbations and compared the output of the model to a large set of real-world health data: the timing and locations of about 66,000 asthma hospitalizations from cities across Texas over a seven-year period. The findings show the spread of cold viruses, which is heavily influenced by the school calendar, is the primary driver of asthma exacerbations.

“The school calendar predicts common cold transmission, and the common cold predicts asthma exacerbations,” Meyers said.

When children are out of school, the authors speculated, they tend to spend less time with other children and are exposed to fewer viruses. As a result, their viral immunity decreases. When school is back in session, they are exposed to viruses at much higher rates, and this is also the time when they are most susceptible.

[Also read: Children With Allergies at Increased Risk of Early Heart Disease]

The study also developed more accurate rates of transmission of cold viruses than have been produced by previous studies—information that might help shed light on how common colds spread, and how we can protect people who are most vulnerable to them.

Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affects nearly 7 million children in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the numbers are rising. Black children are 3.6 times more likely to visit the emergency room for asthma symptoms, and they have a death rate seven times that of white children.

The post Asthma Is Worse for Kids After School Breaks appeared first on Black Health Matters.

For several years, CeCe was living with mysterious health challenges. After seeing numerous specialists and being misdiagnosed multiple times, CeCe finally found out she had hereditary ATTR (hATTR) amyloidosis, a rare, genetic disorder caused by the buildup of an abnormal protein that often affects the heart, nerves, and GI systems. This journey started many years ago, when CeCe was 55.

“I started having carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands,” she says. “I would wake up in the middle of the night with extreme pain. The muscles and nerves in my hands and wrists would suddenly start burning and stinging with hot, cutting pain radiating up both arms. The pain was horrible, and I cried many nights.”

The pain made it difficult for her to write chart notes, an integral part of her job as a nurse practitioner at a public health clinic.

That Thanksgiving, while visiting friends, CeCe began having shortness of breath. It got so bad she had to cut short her visit and fly home to see her doctor, who told her she had pneumonia and gave her medication.

When she didn’t get better, she saw a pulmonologist, who diagnosed asthma.

“I had asthma as a child and this made some sense to me,” she says. “He suggested I get more exercise, which I did, and he provided an inhaler. I was doing OK and able to manage most activities.”

That was until 2008, when things took a sharp turn for the worse. CeCe started having symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, including burning pain and tingling in her toes, especially at night. Her doctor thought she might have gout, but she didn’t have physical symptoms consistent with gout and her blood tests all came back normal.

“That left me feeling frustrated and frightened,” she says. “I knew we were missing something. The shortness of breath, carpal tunnel, and peripheral neuropathy didn’t go away.”

When CeCe’s ankles and calves started swelling a year later, her medical team checked her ejection fraction—a measure of how well the heart is pumping blood.

In 2010, a cardiologist diagnosed CeCe with heart failure. He prescribed traditional heart failure medications, told her to go home and come back and in three months.

“I was in a state of shock,” she says. “But in a few days, my nurse practitioner brain revved up into full gear. Why was I in heart failure? Something didn’t seem right. Maybe it was from the stress of graduate school, parenting teenagers, or spending all of 2009 caring for my best friend before she died of breast cancer.”

CeCe and her healthcare team decided the next step was a heart biopsy, which detected amyloidosis.

“At that time, it was rare to find a provider with enough knowledge about hATTR amyloidosis to provide a diagnosis, and we could not identify anyone in my area,” she says. Her Seattle-based medical team recommended an East Coast clinic with amyloidosis experts who did additional testing and confirmed her diagnosis of hATTR amyloidosis.

With diagnosis in hand CeCe knew she could no longer live on her own, which forced her to make the decision to relocate to another city, where her husband was working. That meant uprooting the comfortable life she had and finding another healthcare team, something she didn’t want to do. But she displayed the resiliency that has been a hallmark of her personality and made the move.

Though her new doctor was positive, learning about her disease set off an emotional time bomb. “I can remember him saying very clearly to me, ‘It is not my plan to watch you die; it is my plan to get you the care you need,’” she says.

The more CeCe learned about the disease, she realized it would not only impact her, but also possibly her two children as it is a hereditary disease. I was flooded by emotions like never before. Guilt: Were my babies going to die? Anger: Why the hell was this happening?,” she explains. “Fear: What was I going to do? How was I going to manage this? My daughter was so angry she could barely stand to be in the same room with me. We were both upset and afraid of how the disease might affect her life. Finding out about the disease was extremely shocking for my son as well. He was away at school, and it was difficult for us to tell him everything that was happening until the summer, when he found out how sick I really was.”

After two days of testing at an amyloidosis center in her new city, CeCe experienced another blow: It was recommended she receive a heart transplant. Worse: It was two to three weeks before they could determine if she was a good candidate for the transplant registry.

“I returned home and waited. As the days passed, it felt as though I was floating outside my body, looking down at a lifeless shell of myself. I couldn’t stop crying and rocking back and forth.”

Her family and friends helped her regroup, and she received her new heart in 2012. CeCe describes her life post-transplant as “a whole new story.” She still has challenges. She and her medical team have to constantly stay on top of the effects of the heart transplant including anti-rejection medications, as well as the symptoms of hATTR amyloidosis including peripheral neuropathy that she still experiences.

And she’s still triggered by how long it took to find out what was wrong with her. “As I reflect on my struggle to achieve an accurate diagnosis and find a treatment center, my medical knowledge and connections were key to saving my life,” she says. “No one should have to work as hard as I did to find healthcare professionals familiar with this disease.”

But she remembers to take notice of the little things. “Without family, friends, and community, none of this would have been possible,” CeCe says. “Resiliency, compassion, creativity, and tenacity are all part of the equation for guiding my navigation of hATTR amyloidosis.”

If you or a family member have experienced similar symptoms to CeCe, talk to your healthcare professional.

The post Living With hATTR Amyloidosis: CeCe’s Story appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Why we need African Americans to lead the charge for a Clean Energy Economy and a Clean Environment
Climate Change: Low income and communities of color are hit first and worst by climate change, suffering disproportionately from the effects of severe tropical storms, heat waves, and air pollution. Despite the need for action on climate, the Trump Administration, led by Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, are rolling back safeguards like the Clean Power Plan and clean car standards, even though EPA scientists recognize the health impact on black lives. Their recent study found that when it comes to particulate air pollution – which is linked to premature death in people with heart or lung disease, irregular heartbeats and decreased lung function — the health burden on African Americans is 54 percent higher than the health burden on the American population overall.
Clean Air: Black children are 4.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma, and 10 times more likely to die from asthma than white children.
Clean Energy Jobs: While solar and wind opportunities are growing, African American employment in these areas is very low. For example, African Americans only makeup 7% of the solar job force. There are tremendous opportunities and demands for skill labors, technicians, and engineers; however by rolling back the clean car standards and gutting the Clean Power Plan, the Trump Administration is undermining the clean energy economy that could create career opportunities and pathways out of poverty for people of color and low-income communities on the front lines of pollution.
Clean Homes: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 87 percent of homes built before 1940 in the U.S. have lead paint. Despite the U.S. government banning the use of lead-based paint, lead from paint, including lead-contaminated dust, is one of the most common causes of lead poisoning, which is still a public health burden facing African American families.
Clean Transportation: The transportation sector is now the country’s largest source of carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. By rolling back America’s clean car standards, Americans will be forced to breathe dirtier air and spend more money at the gas pump. The current standards could save consumers as much as $5,700 per car and $8,200 per truck over the lifetime of their vehicle, and losing those savings will disproportionately hurt the pocketbooks of African American families.
Clean Water: African Americans are more than twice as likely as whites to live in a home with substandard plumbing. More than 1 percent of black people live in houses without potable water and modern sanitation, compared to less than 0.5 percent of whites. Additionally, there is a crisis of lead in water in American schools. According to a recent report published by the US Government Accountability Office, 43 percent of districts, serving 35 million students, tested for lead. Of those, 37 percent found elevated levels and reduced or eliminated exposure.
Links and Resources: Do you have a story to share around what climate pollution is costing you or your community? Share your story at myclimatecost.org.

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Human immunodeficiency virus infection is no longer the death sentence it was 30 years ago, but HIV-infected adults may face a new health hurdle—heart disease.

Studies show HIV-infected adults have higher heart risks than people without the virus. A 2013 study found 50 percent higher risk of heart attack in those studied, while a 2012 study suggested more inflammation in heart arteries.

A large, international study, known as REPRIEVE, is currently looking at statin drug treatment can reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease in HIV-infected adults ages 40-75 who are taking antiretroviral drugs, without a history of heart disease or stroke. The participants also had a low to moderate risk of cardiovascular disease for starting a statin.

Average participation in the trial will last four to five years and 6,500 people will be enrolled at 100 sites, including Canada, Puerto Rico, the United States and Thailand. Participants will receive the statin drug pitavastatin or a placebo.

“The study is really important because we don’t recognize how much inflammation related to HIV may be accelerating [patients’] risk of having heart disease,” said Mamta Jain, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, a study site. “People may be at increased risk just because they have HIV.”

Antiretroviral drug treatment has allowed people with HIV to live into old age by controlling the life cycle and spread of the virus. But even with viral levels under control, HIV may contribute to heart disease by increasing inflammation in the blood vessels, say experts.

“The beauty of statins is they have anti-inflammatory properties,” which could counteract inflammation from HIV, said Steven Grinspoon, M.D., a neuroendocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who is one of the leaders of the REPRIEVE trial.

More than 1.2 million people age 13 and older were living with HIV infection in the U.S. in 2011, the most recent data available. About 44,000 cases were diagnosed annually as of 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If untreated, HIV destroys the body’s immune system in stages, by killing off a type of white blood cells that help fight off infections. In its final stage, the body is virtually defenseless against deadly cancers and other infections.

From an infectious disease standpoint, “HIV is a huge success,” Dr. Grinspoon said. “It’s largely controlled.” But people with HIV need to learn more about heart risks, he said.

“I don’t think heart disease is on the radar of HIV patients,” said Dr. Jain, who treats between 300 and 400 patients who have HIV.

The treatments have evolved as medications today keep viral loads in check. Dr. Jain, who has treated HIV patients since 1999, said she is now more focused on preventing heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

“There is a lot of cardiovascular disease in our aging HIV population and we’re not necessarily recognizing it because they don’t have traditional risk factors,” she said. “Ten years ago I didn’t order a lot of stress tests, but now I am.”

Frank Carroll, age 62, said he didn’t realize his HIV could put him at higher risk of heart disease until he enrolled in the trial earlier this year.

His viral levels have been virtually undetectable for a decade thanks to medication, and he has no heart disease risk factors, although he does battle chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, which he attributes to heavy smoking in the past.

He lost his mother and recently, his sister, from the effects of smoking.

He’s eager to learn more about heart disease and HIV and hopes to help others with HIV by participating in the trial.

Dr. Grinspoon encourages others with HIV to consider cardiovascular disease a new, major problem to face as well.

“It may be off your radar, but it shouldn’t be.” he said. “Get engaged, become part of the trial, become aware of this risk.”

From American Heart Association News

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Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by breathing disorders, afflicts 18.7 million adults and 7 million children in this country. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those numbers are rising.

Among black folks, the numbers are particularly distressing. We have a 35 percent higher rate of asthma than whites, and that disparity is evident across all age groups. According to the CDC, the number of Americans diagnosed with asthma increased by 4.3 million from 2001 to 2009, most steeply among black children. One survey of Chicago schoolchildren ages 6 to 12 found that African Americans were more than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with asthma compared to their white counterparts.

Michael A. Lenoir, M.D., a Bay area allergist and past president of the National Medical Association (NMA), spoke with Black Health Matters about the challenges of fighting this disease.

Black Health Matters: What should we know about asthma right now?
Michael A. Lenoir, M.D.: We understand more about the disease and the triggers, so we can tailor treatment. We got anti-inflammatories, and mortality started to drop. But a lot of the interest from the first part of the last decade has been kind of lost. We’re starting to see people revert to old ways of therapy. For a long time we used Albuterol. It’s easy to get, it’s easy to use and it works. It opens the airway, no matter what closes it. The problem is that it’s not a maintenance treatment.

Are physicians not prescribing maintenance medications?
The problem is not that were not prescribing the appropriate medications, but Albuterol is so much easier to take. When you have a disease that when you’re feeling good, you’re feeling good, but when you’re feeling bad, you want relief quick, it’s hard to get people on maintenance drugs to maintain when they know Albuterol works quicker.

Why are African American children more at risk of developing asthma?
It’s really a systemic problem. African Americans are more at risk of everything. One reason is lifestyle; other reasons are access to health care, access to specialists and living in poor environments. There’s a study that says if you look at most ethnic diseases, as people go up the socioeconomic ladder, the incidence of the disease goes down. That’s not true with African Americans and asthma. We haven’t gotten the info out that you can manage this disease, but you have to have regular doctor visits.

That’s another big problem in our community. We see doctors more for illness than for wellness. Getting to the doctor—even when there’s access—we as people, particularly black males, we’re leery to go for regular visits.

What most physicians feel is that asthma rates are increasing because of exposure to hydrocarbons—people living in cities with automobiles and crowding. So even if you use the meds that are available and that are recommended, you still have to fight those factors.

You mentioned access to care. How has the Affordable Care Act helped your patients?
The Affordable Care Act has helped by providing proper insurance for millions of people. More people are covered. More African Americans are covered. Plus there are metrics doctors have to meet in that care. That’s one of the really important values. We’re in a new era in medicine when you start talking about reimbursement for quality not volume. That’s clearly the direction we should go in.

You also said physicians believe exposure to hydrocarbons is behind a rise in asthma rates. But a recent study found that living in an urban area isn’t the biggest risk for a child developing asthma, that being poor, black and Latino are bigger risks.
Environment is still a big risk factor for children. There’s no denying that we live in those [inner-city] environments more often. We’re in those spaces, and our asthma isn’t well managed. That plethora of factors increases morbidity.

Is there a genetic component to who gets asthma?
Yes. If you look at families, probably 60 percent of people with asthma have at least one family member with it. There are also some genetic differences in how we respond to therapy. If you look at Puerto Ricans, 22 percent have the gene that leads to asthma, but don’t respond to meds. Only 8 percent of Mexicans have that gene. Eighteen percent of African Americans have the gene that leads to asthma, but don’t respond to the meds. So genetics is a really major part. In the future, you’ll find that more people will be treated based on genetics.

What about clinical trials? Are there any for asthma, and how can we get more of us into those trials?
I chaired the NMA’s clinical trials project, and one of the biggest barriers is that doctors don’t refer black patients for clinical trials.

And we still remember Tuskegee….
It’s not just Tuskegee—a lot of young people barely know about Tuskegee. Some people are just afraid of experimentation. [The bigger issue is that] we’re not offered clinical trials. There are a lot of large asthma clinical trials that have shown large improvements in care. But we don’t know about them.

And doctors have the same fears about experimentation. I don’t care how you look at it, you’re still a guinea pig.

Let’s face it: Sometimes these trials work, sometimes they don’t. By the time they get to human trials, there’s usually evidence to support them working. But if they don’t have enough African Americans in clinical trials, you have stage four problems after the drug is released—where the drug doesn’t work well for African Americans. That’s another reason to encourage more African Americans to get involved. Plus, a lot of times you get better care while in a clinical trial.

So the bottom line on asthma in African Americans is….
The problem is when these diseases fall out of favor and drug companies leave town, we still have the disease. There’s still a difference between our health and that of other people. We have to look after our own. We have to take care of ourselves in this increasingly complex environment. African Americans still fall way behind the curve. In order to change that in asthma, and any other chronic disease, we have to stay on it. I tell people, if blacks with asthma got as mad about the outcomes as we do when somebody cuts in the Safeway line, we’d have this problem solved.

The post Michael A. Lenoir, M.D.: Doing Battle With Asthma appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Grains, especially whole grains, are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. And a recent large-scale, long-term Harvard study reveals that eating more whole grains has been linked to longer life.

Researchers estimate that every one-ounce serving of whole grains reduced a person’s overall risk of an early death by 5 percent, and their risk of death from heart disease by 9 percent. So make these grains part of your meals and reap the health benefits.

Amaranth, classified as a pseudo-grain, is so popular in South America that it’s sold on the street like popcorn. This peppery tasting grain is a protein powerhouse (it has a higher complete protein level than most grains), containing all essential amino acids. It has been shown to lower cholesterol and is gluten free.

Barley is a cereal grain high in soluble fiber. It is believed to be effective at reducing total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol. It may also lower triglycerides and increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels, but the research on that has been mixed. Barley may also help prevent stomach cancer or prolong life in those who have the disease.

Usually thought of as a grain, buckwheat is actually the seed of a plant related to rhubarb. Buckwheat ranks low on the glycemic scale and is high in the essential amino acids lysine and arginine. This gluten-free food lowers cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.

Bulgur, also known as kasha, is 100 percent whole wheat that’s been steamed or parboiled, and then dried and ground into bits. A cup of cooked bulgur has only 150 calories, 8 grams of fiber, and nearly 6 grams of protein. This low-fat grain is also a good source of iron, magnesium and B vitamins.

Corn, America’s No. 1 field crop, provides about 21 percent of human nutrition across the globe. It is loaded with vitamin A, containing more than 10 times that of other grains. High in antioxidants and carotenoids associated with eye health, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, corn is another gluten-free grain.

Cornmeal, ground from dried corn, is a rich source of dietary fiber (1 cup contains about 36 percent of the daily fiber requirements for women and 23 percent for men), iron and phosphorus. Cornmeal is gluten free.

Considered the most ancient of the wheat varieties available today, einkorn hasn’t been grown much in the United States, though recent interest is creating a resurgence in planting this hearty wheat. Compared to modern-day wheat, einkorn has higher levels of protein, essential fatty acids, minerals and some vitamins like beta-carotene. People who have gluten sensitivity (but not Celiac disease) may find einkorn products easier to digest.

Farro, with its nutty flavor and chewy texture, works well in soups and stews. This ancient grain is high in fiber, protein and iron.

Freekeh is wheat that has been harvested while it’s still young and green. Because of this early harvesting, freekeh retains more nutrients, providing higher amounts of protein, fiber and minerals than wheat harvested when it’s mature. It also ranks low on the glycemic index.

Hominy, made from kernels of corn soaked in an alkali solution of either lime or lye, is a low-fat, low-calorie wonder. A University of Maryland Medical Center study found that ample amounts of vitamin B-6 may help prevent carpal tunnel, rheumatoid arthritis and vision problems, such as macular degeneration. Vitamin B-6 also aids the body’s production of serotonin, a chemical that may enhance mood or prevent depression. One cup of cooked grits provides .46 milligrams of vitamin B-6 (the daily recommendation is 1.1 milligrams to 1.4 milligrams). Hominy is also a good source of folate.

Kamut, an Egyptian word for wheat, is another super old wheat. With its buttery flavor, kamut contains high levels of healthy fats, protein, selenium and zinc. And it’s found in everything from breads and cereals to snacks and baby food.

Gluten-free millet comes in white, gray, yellow and red varieties. It can be used in its whole form or ground and used as flour. Millet is especially rich in magnesium, which is important for bone health.

Oats, a favorite in breakfast cereals, provide a whole host of health benefits: lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Oats help you feel fuller longer, which helps control weight, and they can help improve bowel health. Some studies show early introduction of oats in children’s diets may help reduce their risk of asthma. Oats are high in protein and healthy fats, and low in carbohydrates, and they contain polyphenols that have strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-itch properties.

Generally classified as a grain, quinoa is actually an edible seed related to beets, chard and spinach. Quinoa cooks quickly, is gluten free and comes in red, black and white varieties. It is an excellent source of protein, which builds muscle and boosts metabolism.

Rice is the biggest food source in 34 countries of the world. Brown rice, considered unpolished, retains its germ and bran, which makes it more fiber rich and nutritious. The health benefits of brown rice are abundant: It helps lower cholesterol and contains vitamin B1, essential for a healthy heart and nervous system. Other nutritional benefits include fiber, manganese, magnesium and selenium.

Rye was considered a weed when it first appeared in wheat fields. But farmers realized that it grows more rapidly than wheat, can withstand flood waters and thrives during drought. Rye is a versatile source of dietary fiber, especially a type called arabinoxylan, which is known for its high antioxidant activity. Studies show rye’s health benefits are numerous, including improved bowel health, better blood sugar control and overall weight management. A small Finnish study found that rye may reduce inflammation in people with metabolic syndrome.

It might not be on your go-to list, but sorghum—the fifth most important cereal crop in the world—should be. In addition to being gluten free, this grain contains a compound called policosanol, which may lower cholesterol. Ethiopian flatbread injera is made from sorghum, and sorghum can also be fermented to make beer.

Spelt is found mostly in bagels, breads, noodles and tortillas. This ancient grain is higher in protein than modern wheat.

Teff is gluten-free and higher in calcium than other grains, providing 123 milligrams of the mineral per cup. It is also high in resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate that acts like fiber and helpful in weight loss. Teff is small, so it is often eaten whole and can be cooked in porridge, added to baked goods or made into polenta.

Worldwide, wheat is the third most-produced grain, behind corn and rice. In this country, wheat accounts for about two-thirds of all grains consumed. However, much of the wheat we eat is refined or enriched, so it’s important to check nutrition labels for the words “whole wheat.” A diet high in wheat has been found to reduce stroke risk 30 percent to 36 percent, type 2 diabetes risk 21 percent to 30 percent and heart disease risk 25 percent to 28 percent. Wheat is also associated with weight maintenance, healthier blood pressure levels, less inflammatory disease and a reduced risk of asthma.

(Photo: Depositphotos)

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Osteoporosis is a condition in which the bones become less dense and more likely to fracture. Fractures from osteoporosis can result in significant pain and disability. More than 53 million people in this country already have osteoporosis or are at high risk due to low bone mass.

Risk factors for developing osteoporosis include:

• thinness or small frame
• family history of the disease
• being postmenopausal and particularly having had early menopause
• abnormal absence of menstrual periods (amenorrhea)
• prolonged use of certain medications, such as those used to treat lupus, asthma, thyroid deficiencies or seizures
• low calcium intake
• lack of physical activity
• smoking
• excessive alcohol intake

Osteoporosis can be prevented. It is known as a silent disease because, if undetected, bone loss can progress for many years without symptoms until a fracture occurs. Osteoporosis has been called a childhood disease with old age consequences because building healthy bones in youth helps prevent osteoporosis and fractures later in life. However, it is never too late to adopt new habits for healthy bones.

Women who have been treated for breast cancer may be at increased risk for osteoporosis and fracture for several reasons: 1) Estrogen has a protective effect on bone, and reduced levels of the hormone trigger bone loss. Because of chemotherapy or surgery, many breast cancer survivors experience a loss of ovarian function and, consequently, a drop in estrogen levels. Women who were premenopausal before their cancer treatment tend to go through menopause earlier than those who have not had breast cancer; 2) studies suggest chemotherapy may have a direct negative effect on bone health; and 3) breast cancer itself may stimulate the production of osteoclasts, the cells that break down bone.

Several strategies can reduce the risk for osteoporosis or lessen the effects of the disease in women who have already been diagnosed.

Nutrition: Some studies have found a link between diet and breast cancer. However, it is not yet clear which foods or supplements may play a role in reducing breast cancer risk. As far as bone health is concerned, a well-balanced diet rich in calcium and vitamin D is important. Good sources of calcium include low-fat dairy products; dark green, leafy vegetables and calcium-fortified foods and beverages. Supplements can help ensure the calcium requirement is met each day, especially in people with a milk allergy. The Institute of Medicine recommends a daily calcium intake of 1,000 milligrams for men and women up to age 50. Women older than age 50 and men older than age 70 should increase their intake to 1,200 milligrams a day.

Also note that vitamin D plays an important role in calcium absorption and bone health. Food sources of vitamin D include egg yolks, saltwater fish and liver. Many people, especially those who are older or housebound, may need vitamin D supplements to achieve the recommended intake of 600 to 800 IU each day.

Exercise: Like muscle, bone is living tissue that responds to exercise by becoming stronger. The best activity for your bones is weight-bearing exercise that forces you to work against gravity. Some examples include walking, climbing stairs, weight training and dancing. Regular exercise, such as walking, may help prevent bone loss and will provide many other health benefits. Recent research suggests exercise also may reduce breast cancer risk in younger women.

Healthy lifestyle: Smoking is bad for every part of your body, including your bones. Women who smoke tend to go through menopause earlier, resulting in earlier reduction in levels of the bone-preserving hormone estrogen and triggering earlier bone loss. Smokers also may absorb less calcium from their diets. Some studies have found a slightly higher risk of breast cancer in women who drink alcohol, and evidence suggests alcohol can have a negative effect on bone health. Those who drink heavily are more prone to bone loss and fracture, because of both poor nutrition and an increased risk of falling.

Bone density test: A bone mineral density (BMD) test measures bone density in various parts of the body. This safe and painless test can detect osteoporosis before a fracture occurs and can predict the chances of fractures in the future. The BMD test can help determine whether medication should be considered. A woman recovering from breast cancer should ask her doctor whether she might be a candidate for this test.

Medication: There is no cure for osteoporosis. However, several medications are available to prevent and treat this disease. Bisphosphonates, a class of osteoporosis treatment medications, are being studied and have demonstrated some success in their ability to treat breast cancers that have spread to bone.

Another osteoporosis treatment medication, raloxifene, is currently being evaluated for its ability to decrease breast cancer risk. The National Institutes of Health is currently sponsoring the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene, known by the acronym STAR, which compares the effectiveness of raloxifene with that of tamoxifen in preventing breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have a high risk of developing the disease.

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Millions of Americans live in regions with both high ragweed pollen counts and unhealthy ozone levels, worsening asthma and respiratory allergies, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. About 50 million Americans have some type of nasal allergy, and asthma rates have increased from 20 million in 2000 to 26 million in 2010.

The report, the first to look at how ragweed prevalence and high ozone smog collide, found that Americans living in the “sneeziest and wheeziest” cities and regions—mainly cities from Richmond, Virginia, to Atlanta; Philadelphia to Chicago; and Oklahoma City to Los Angeles—are more likely to suffer severe allergy symptoms and to be more ill than people exposed to ragweed or ozone alone. The report goes a step further than the Asthma and Allergy Foundation’s annual asthma cities ranking and identifies five regions of the country (encompassing some 278 counties nationwide) where the intersection of ragweed and ozone are highest: the Los Angeles Basin, the Great Lakes region, the St. Louis area, the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.

“Millions of us are sneezing and wheezing from allergies and asthma worsened by climate change-fueled ragweed pollen and ozone smog pollution,” said Juan Declet-Barreto, lead author of the NRDC report. “These are vulnerable communities where there is ragweed presence and the 2008 EPA ozone standard is being exceeded. This double-whammy health threat will only intensify, and affect more people, if we don’t take steps to reduce climate change now. Everybody deserves to breathe clean air.”

Pediatricians are seeing the effects of climate change on health first-hand.

“Allergies are so common that antihistamines and corticosteroids are widely prescribed, with one in three of my patients being prescribed over the past month, including infants,” said Yolanda Whyte, M.D., an Atlanta pediatrician and community outreach director of the National Medical Association’s environmental task force. “Many young children in metro Atlanta wheeze. About a quarter of children at one elementary school where I recently spoke had an inhaler or nebulizer at home.”

Alexandria, Virginia, pediatrician Samantha Adhoot, M.D., is experiencing something similar in her practice. “I have had two admissions this spring that resulted in severe asthma attacks requiring hospitalization for children under the age of 2,” she said. “Child health is inextricably linked to climate change. They are not separate.”

With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2000, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Why? Scientists say climate change, caused by carbon pollution, is spurring hotter temperatures.

Reports show more than 16 percent of American children have hay fever or respiratory allergy. This is due, in part, to an earlier spring thaw. “Over the last 20 years, allergy season has increased, due to shorter winters, particularly in northern regions, by 20 days,” Dr. Adhoot said. “Most people feel that their allergies have gotten worse, and they have. Total pollen counts have increased by over 40 percent over the last 20 years. Ragweed plants produce twice as much pollen.”

The NRDC’s report sounds a dire warning that continued climate change will make millions more Americans ill, and calls on the EPA to finalize standards that strengthen the health standard for ozone pollution.

“We’re seeing more and more antihistamines being created, more nasal steroids and more being available over the counter,” Dr. Whyte said. “According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, an estimated one in two Americans is on some prescription medication. We’d rather focus on prevention. We can’t prevent pollen from trees, but we can prevent exposure.”

NRDC’s report also provides the following tips to avoid overexposure to ragweed pollen and ozone smog, especially if you or family members have allergies or asthma:

• Keep track of pollen counts in your area by following media reports.
• Put your car and home air conditioners on recirculate. Keep windows and doors closed, especially on high pollen or ozone days during allergy season.
• Shower and wash your hair after working or playing outdoors to remove pollen. Change your clothes.
• Save strenuous exercise for lower ozone days or “do them in the morning,” Declet-Barreto said.
• Wear a mask for outside chores.
• Talk to your physician if you have allergies or asthma. Take appropriate medications.

Photo: Wavebreakmedia/Depositphotos

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Amid mounted pressure from the new administration’s team, Congress may make another attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. According to the Center for American Progress, under a new proposed deal, states could eliminate protections for individuals who have pre-existing health conditions.

From the Center for American Progress:

“Repealing protections for people with pre-existing health conditions could be on Congress’ agenda as early as next week. Facing pressure from the Trump administration, Congress may be ready once again to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. This time around, Congress is discussing including an amendment that would allow insurance companies in the individual market to charge higher rates to consumers based on health status.

Under the deal that was leaked, states would be able to waive protections for pre-existing conditions for any reason, as long as they set up a high-risk pool or participated in a federal risk-sharing program. Before the ACA, all but seven states allowed insurance companies to charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions.

Without pre-existing condition protections, health care would become prohibitively expensive for those who need it most. People with asthma, a relatively minor chronic condition, would face a markup of about $4,000 for coverage, while those with severe illnesses, such as heart trouble or cancer, would face premiums tens of thousands of dollars above standard rates.”

The costs of health insurance varies by state, reports the outlet. According to the Center for American Progress, nearly 130 million non-elderly citizens have pre-existing conditions and would have to shell out thousands of dollars in additional expenses to have health-care coverage.

From NewsOne

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We’ve written a lot lately about vitamin D and African Americans over the past few months, especially since so many of us are deficient given our darker skin (which doesn’t absorb the sunlight that is packed with vitamin D) and the fact that we consume less dairy (a common source of the vitamin). Low vitamin D levels have been linked to heart disease, asthma, flu, bacterial vaginosis, osteoporosis and glucose intolerance. It’s also believed that low vitamin D levels play a role in why we develop more prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer and get more aggressive forms of those cancers.

But that isn’t all.

A recent study may have found a link between low levels of vitamin D and multiple sclerosis (MS) in African Americans. Researchers from the University of California San Francisco found that African Americans with multiple sclerosis are more likely to have vitamin D deficiencies than African Americans who don’t have the disease.

“We have known that vitamin D levels are associated with MS and that African Americans are at increased risk for having low vitamin D levels, but little research has been done to look at vitamin D levels in African Americans with MS,” said Ari J. Green, M.D., the lead researcher for the study.

The study involved 339 people with MS and 342 people who did not have the disease. Researchers analyzed the blood vitamin D levels and the severity of the disease in each participant. Vitamin D deficiency was found in 77 percent of the people with MS, compared to 71 percent of those without the disease. The people with MS were also exposed to a lower monthly UV index (average of 3.8) than those without MS (average of 4.8).

Researchers hope that these findings will spark more conversations between black patients and their health-care providers about how much UV exposure is needed, the importance of getting tested for vitamin D levels and whether supplements would be a good choice.

Only recently has MS been found to be as common in African Americans as it is in whites, and when we do develop the disease, it’s much more severe. And that can be devastating given how MS impacts the body.

MS is a potentially debilitating autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). Basically the immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves, which ends up interfering with the communication between your brain and the rest of your body. This may result in the deterioration of the nerves themselves, which is not reversible.

Some signs and symptoms of MS are:

Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, which typically occurs on one side of your body at a time or the bottom half of your body
Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time, often with pain during eye movement
Double vision or blurring of vision
Tingling or pain in parts of your body
Electric-shock sensations that occur with certain head movements
Tremor, lack of coordination or unsteady gait
Fatigue
Dizziness
MS is most commonly diagnosed between ages 20 and 40, but can be seen at any age. And while there is treatment for MS, the disease has no cure.

Learn more about MS at BET.com.

The post The Multiple Sclerosis and Vitamin D Link appeared first on Black Health Matters.

An asthma trigger is a thing, activity or condition that makes asthma worse. When you come in contact with a trigger it can cause a sudden worsening of symptoms, often called an asthma attack, episode or flare-up.

Common asthma triggers include allergens, respiratory infections, irritants, exercise and emotions. Knowing what causes your asthma symptoms is an important step toward managing your disease. Allergy tests may help identify your triggers. Your health-care provider can help you recognize what makes your asthma worse and help you find simple solutions to reduce or avoid asthma triggers.

Medical conditions. Respiratory infections, such as a cold, flu or sinus infection, are the most common cause of asthma symptoms leading to an asthma attack. Frequent hand washing and avoiding people who are sick will help reduce your exposure to cold and flu. But the best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu vaccine every year. Acid reflux and pregnancy hormones can also make asthma symptoms worse.

Weather, pollen and air pollution. Changes in the season can bring on an asthma episode due to increased pollen from grass, weeds and trees. Limit your time outdoors during seasons with high pollen, such as spring and fall. Extreme temperatures and high humidity can also trigger symptoms of asthma, as can air pollution, smog, vehicle exhaust and fumes.

Food and medicines. Asthma can be triggered by food allergies and medications. Discuss any over-the-counter or prescription medicines you take, such as aspirin, fever-reducers or anti-inflammatories, with your doctor, along with any alternative therapies or herbal remedies that may have an impact on your asthma. Common food allergies include peanuts and shellfish.

Smoke. All types of smoke can make it hard to breathe, including smoke from cigarettes, cigars, pipes, wood burning fireplaces, bonfires and burning leaves. If you smoke, make a plan to quit. If you don’t smoke but live with someone who does, discuss ways to avoid or limit your exposure to tobacco smoke.

Strong odors. Scents from perfumes, deodorants and cleaning supplies can affect a person with asthma. When possible, choose fragrance-free cleaning and personal care products.

Animals and pests. Dander and saliva from animals with fur or feathers can be an allergen for some and can cause asthma symptoms. Reduce your exposure to pet allergens by vacuuming and damp dusting weekly. Try to keep your pets out of the bedroom or other rooms where you spend a lot of time. Pests in the home, workplace or school can impact your asthma. To reduce your exposure to these triggers, wash bedding regularly, fix leaks, store garbage outside, vacuum and dust weekly. Switch to allergen-proof pillow and mattress covers.

Mold. Mold is an allergen that can trigger asthma symptoms. Reduce your exposure by cleaning visible mold, throwing away moldy items, running a dehumidifier and using the exhaust fan when taking a shower. Clean mold with mild soap, hot water and a firm brush.

Exercise. Staying active is very important to your overall health, especially if you have asthma. But if exercising triggers your asthma symptoms, use your quick-relief medicine 15 to 30 minutes before physical activity.

Emotions. Strong emotions—laughing or crying too hard, anxiety, anger, extreme fear—can increase rapid breathing and trigger asthma symptoms. Stress, both personal and work-related, can be a major trigger, too.

(Photo: Depositphotos)

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Part 3: Allergic Conditions and Development Issues

• Breastfeeding may cut down on overall allergies in babies. Childhood should be a fun, magical time—not a time spent suffering from multiple allergies. Give your baby a fighting chance by breastfeeding her.
• Imagine having itchy areas and not having the motor skills to scratch them. Allergic rhinitis is an allergic condition that can cause a number of problems, like an itchy nose or mouth, stuffiness, coughing and sore throat. That’s only a few symptoms of the many a person can experience with this condition. Breastfeeding can reduce your baby’s chances of developing it, according to this study.
• Seeing asthma flares gives quite a scare. Asthma attacks are scary for both the person witnessing them and the person experiencing them. I never want to see my child struggle to breath, and breastfeeding may help me with that goal.
• Baby’s soft skin should never be inflamed and red. Eczema is unpleasant to look at and even worse to suffer from. With eczema, skin can be itchy and cracked, and a baby deserves better than that.
• I’d feel like a real ass for giving my baby unnecessary gas. Cow’s milk allergies are recognized as one of the most common among infants, with up to 15 percent being affected. These milk protein allergies are often responsible for delayed gastric emptying, colitis (gassy babies) and constipation.
• Breastfeeding can help flush bedwetting down the toilet. I can’t imagine how embarrassing it must be for children who have problems with wetting their beds, especially in their early teenage years. Although I know I can’t wrap my baby in a bubble and stop every bad thing that can happen, I’d really like to prevent any unnecessary embarrassment that I can.
• I don’t want my baby’s motor skills to run out of gas. Breast milk seems to help the motor skills of premature infants. In my mind, if breast milk is good for a preemie, it’s good for a full-term baby, too.
• This momma would feel like a dummy if she lowered her baby’s IQ. Every child has talent, and if my child’s talent is that he’s going to be the next Albert Einstein, I’d hate to get in the way of that by choosing formula instead of breast milk.
• I don’t have the guts to alter the bacteria in their intestines. Gut bacteria is a vital part of health. Bacteria can be both good and bad, and according to this study, breastfed babies have less bad bacteria.
• Breastfeeding sends a message—a biochemical one. My hormones can do my baby a world of good, helping with her biochemical and immunological growth.
• Breastfeeding will help my baby reach gross motor skill milestones faster. Formula babies can be delayed on how quickly they reach their milestones.
• Breastfeeding can help my baby express himself. Breastfeeding might help your child’s language development. Learning how to communicate and express yourself effectively is one of the most important skills you learn in childhood.
• A thymus is there for a reason, and breastfeeding appears to help it with its mission. Breastfeeding might help your child’s language development. Learning how to effectively communicate and express yourself is one of most important skills you learn in childhood.
• See, breastfeeding is good for babies. It helps their eyes. Despite all its problems, this world is an awesome and beautiful place to live. I want to help my baby see it clearly.
• If breastfeeding during immunizations can spare my baby one ounce of pain, I’ll take a stab at it. Babies who are breastfed during immunizations cried for a shorter amount of time than non-breastfed babies in this study.

Check back tomorrow for Part 4 of “The 111 Benefits of Breastfeeding.” Or catch up on Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
From Mom Loves Best

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Childhood food allergies are on the rise, but nowhere is this more evident than among black children. A new study from Johns Hopkins University reports that food allergies have almost doubled in that population.

The study looked at more than 450,000 children between 1988 and 2011. During those years, food allergies increased among black children at a rate of 2.1 percent every 10 years, while only growing at a rate of 1.2 percent each decade among Hispanics and 1 percent every 10 years among white children.

“Our research found a striking food allergy trend that needs to be further evaluated to discover the cause,” study author Corinne Keet, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics, said in a news release. “Although African Americans generally have higher levels of IgE—the antibody the immune system creates more of when one has an allergy—it is only recently that they have reported food allergy more frequently than white children.”

A separate study found that many allergists can predict whether a child will be more likely to outgrow a food allergy or if it will remain a lifelong problem.

“Those allergic to milk, egg, soy and wheat are more likely to tolerate these allergens over time than those allergic to peanuts and tree nuts,” said study author Wesley Burks, M.D., an allergist and American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology fellow. “No single test alone can predict eventual food tolerance, but when patients are under the regular care of a board-certified allergist, they can be re-evaluated and tested in different ways.”

The post Food Allergies Spike Among Black Children appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Part 1: Reduce Risk of Infection

• I’m in no rush to give my baby thrush, and studies have shown breastfeeding is less likely to. I’ve seen babies with thrush—that white, thick coating in their mouth doesn’t harm them, but it does require medicine to get rid of it. So I pay attention when a study tells me that 18.5 percent of children who received both breast milk and milk in bottles carried thrush, while none of the children who only received breast milk did.
• Breast milk helps protect against the trots in tots. Multiple studies have shown babies who are fed breast milk suffer from less acute gastroenteritis than those who are formula-fed. In one study, formula fed babies were almost four times more likely to have a diarrhea disease than those who were fed only breast milk.
• Breast milk lowers enterovirus risk which makes me a happy mom. Enterovirus infections are no fun for babies or mothers. They cause respiratory illnesses, and involve coughing, sneezing and fever. This study shows that the risk of getting enterovirus went down as the number of times a baby was breastfed went up. The protection was greatest at 3 months, and slowly declined until the protection went away fully at 11 months.
• Say what? Breastfeeding protects your baby’s ears. Breastfeeding results in a lower incidence of ear infections for your baby. I’ve seen babies with ear infections—they’re uncomfortable, always tugging on their ears and super cranky. I don’t blame them. I would be too.
• Hib is nothing to mess with, and breastfeeding gives antibodies against it. Hib is a bacterial infection spread through the air via coughing or sneezing. Hib primarily affects babies and young children.
• Breastfeeding protects the most against a host of infections. Studies have shown that many infections are less common among babies who are being breastfed. These infections are located throughout the body—ears, lungs, stomach, eyes and mouth.
• Meningitis scares me so I’ll do anything to ward it off. Meningitis is something you don’t want to mess around with, and it often strikes with no warning. If breastfeeding can help lessen the risk of it, I will try it.
• Breastfeeding is built-in infection protection. Breastfeeding offers protection against an infection of the small intestine that is caused by a parasite called Giardia lamblia. Giardiasis causes diarrhea, gas and stomach cramps. The last thing babies need is an infection that dehydrates them and causes them discomfort.
• Necrotizing enterocolitis is not only hard to pronounce—it’s life threatening. This condition, in which intestinal tissue is destroyed, most often occurs in preemies. It is much more likely in babies who are formula fed.
• The idea of pneumonia panics me. Don’t let your baby’s vaccines lull you into a false sense of security. Pneumococcal disease can happen to children even if they’ve been vaccinated, and it can result in a serious illness that requires trips to the emergency room and stays in hospitals. However, breastfeeding was associated with a decreased likelihood of an invasive pneumococcal disease.
• Week-long abdominal cramps are no fun at any age. Salmonellosis risk can be decreased by breastfeeding your baby. Powdered formula can contain the pathogens that cause salmonella infection.
• Wheezing is not one of the adorable sounds you want to hear your baby make. Respiratory infections are scary for parents and children. Any time there’s airway obstruction involved, it causes panic all the way around. Breastfeeding can cut down on the risk of respiratory illnesses, and that makes me breathe a lot easier.
• Your mommy milk isn’t so easily contaminated. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention warns consumers that powdered infant formulas can sometimes be contaminated with Chronobacter. Chronobacter is a germ that can survive dry environments and can be deadly in infants.
• Respiratory syncytial virus is common, but breastfeeding reduces hospitalization for it. This virus leads to infections of the respiratory tract and the lungs. Almost all kids are infected with this virus by their second birthday. Breastfeeding cuts down on the severity of the illness and the chances it will lead to a hospital stay.
• Sepsis can affect many body parts, and can even be fatal. Some of the complications that can occur with sepsis can impact kidneys, brain, lungs and the heart. Breast milk can help cut down on the risk of sepsis.
• No one should smoke around a baby, but if they do, breast milk can protect babies from tobacco effects. Seeing someone smoking around a baby makes my blood boil because they aren’t young enough to protect themselves from other people’s bad habits. At least with breast milk, they’re afforded some protection from severe childhood asthma.
• UTIs will make babies cry, and breast milk keeps those painful infections at bay. Breastfeeding your baby will reduce their chances of getting a urinary tract infection. I know I would feel terrible if my choice to formula feed caused my baby to get UTIs.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of “The 111 Benefits of Breastfeeding.”
From Mom Loves Best

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About a third of the young people in the United States are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Black children, like their adult counterparts, have the highest obesity rates.) And about half of the parents of these children don’t think their kids are too heavy, says a new study.
Parental denial may put a bull’s eye on heavy children. Extra pounds put them at increased risk for chronic health problems, including asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, joint issues and sleep apnea.
“Parents who underestimate their kids’ weight may not take action to encourage healthy behaviors that would improve their child’s weight and reduce their risk of future health conditions,” says the study’s lead author Alyssa Lundahl, a graduate student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
For the study, researchers analyzed 69 studies involving almost 16,000 children, ages 2 to 18, and found:
51 percent of parents with overweight or obese children thought their kids were a normal weight.
About 14 percent of parents with normal-weight kids believed their child were underweight.
Parents of kids ages 2 to 5 were most likely to underestimate the weight of heavy children.
So what’s “too heavy”? Children are considered overweight or obese based on where they fall on body mass index (BMI) growth charts: Those at the 85th to 95th percentile are overweight; those at or above the 95th percentile are obese.
To make sure your child maintains a healthy weight, pediatricians suggest these lifestyle changes:
Eat only at the kitchen or dining room table.
Make sure your children have a healthy breakfast.
Give children water instead of high-sugar sodas and juices. Serve meals with fat-free or skim milk.
Keep healthy snacks such as baby carrots, string cheese and grapes on hand.
Eat at fast-food restaurants three times (or less) each month.
Skip the candy, cookie and soda aisles at the grocery store.
Sign your children up for a physical activity—swimming or soccer, for instance. Encourage them to take the stairs whenever possible.

The post ‘My Child Is Not Fat!’ appeared first on Black Health Matters.

If your asthma has you under its thumb, the problem could be the way you communicate with your allergist, according to two new studies published in the January issue of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
One study found only 8 percent to 13 percent of asthma patients refill inhaled corticosteroid prescriptions after a year. These medications, taken as prescribed, may help improve asthma control, normalize lung function and could prevent permanent injury to the airways.
One solution is open communication with an allergist. “When patients do not understand their condition or treatment plan, they may not follow life-saving guidelines, putting them at increased risk for asthma attacks,” study author Stanley Fineman, M.D., former president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said in a college news release. “Changes need to be made by allergists and patients to ensure a treatment plan is in place that will be followed.”
The second study found that black young adults are more likely to ignore asthma treatment plans. Age, poor communication and discomfort taking medication in public contribute to their lack of adherence.
“Many African-American asthma sufferers believed they had a better understanding of their asthma triggers and treatment as they reached young adulthood,” senior study author and allergist Alan Baptist, M.D., said in the news release. “However, many do not manage their condition as advised, which can lead to increased asthma attacks and emergency-room visits. Providing adequate education and addressing specific barriers that young, African-American adults have in asthma management may decrease health-care disparities and improve outcomes.”
Asthma is serious business in this country. The breathing disorder affects about 26 million and causes roughly 4,000 deaths a year.

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If you have asthma, you’ll have to fight the disease no matter where you live, but in some cities, the breathing disorder is harder to control. In 2014, the 10 worst cities for asthma sufferers, as ranked by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation’s annual list, are:
Richmond, Virginia, skyrocketed from No. 23 last year to the number one spot because of poverty and high levels of year-round pollen.
Memphis, Tennessee, stays near the top of the AAF’s list. This is attributed to year-round pollen, weak anti-smoking laws and low use of daily medications.
The biggest problem asthma sufferers face in McAllen, Texas, is a lack of access to care. Many people without insurance don’t have daily medications to prevent asthma. And Texas is one of the states that didn’t accept Medicaid expansion, leaving too many of its citizens uninsured.
Smoking is a big contributor to Oklahoma City’s asthma problem. A third of folks with asthma who live here are also smokers.
Poor air quality and unhealthy ozone days make Philadelphia a rough city for asthma sufferers. For black asthmatics, it’s a particularly bad place; asthma deaths are four times more common among us in the City of Brotherly Love.
Though asthma rates are lower than the national average in Chattanooga, Tennessee, asthma-induced ER visits are higher than average.
More than 1 in 5 children who lives in Fresno, California, has asthma, which is enough to place this California city in the top 10 worst cities for asthma sufferers.
Fall is particularly difficult for folks who have asthma and live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s peak ragweed season, and ragweed can trigger attacks.
Random gun violence isn’t the only thing killing us in Chicago. Black folks in this Midwestern metropolis are five times as likely as their white counterparts to die from asthma.
Detroit has been making the news for all the wrong reasons lately, including coming in at No. 10 on this year’s asthma list. Poverty and lack of access to care make asthma a major concern here.

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The week in health….
Putting calorie counts on restaurant menus  is supposed to make diners stop and think before making unhealthy food choices. New research, however, shows the tactic isn’t working. In a poll of 2,000 Philadelphia fast-food customers only about 10 percent used the information. That’s if they noticed it. “Forty percent of the sample saw it and about 10 percent [overall] said they used it and reported that they purchased fewer calories,” said study author Brian Elbel, an assistant professor of population health and health policy at the NYU School of Medicine.
The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology released new guidelines on who should take cholesterol-lowering drugs, stressing taking care of the sickest and those at the highest risk of a heart attack or stroke, instead of the current, more general emphasis on lowering cholesterol numbers. The changes may mean some people can skip medication, while others may need higher doses.
Think of diabetes as World War III, and we’re losing the battle. The number of people worldwide estimated to be living with the disease rose to a record of 382 million this year, medical experts said this week. Most of that 382 million have type 2 diabetes, which has been linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. This year’s record number is up from 371 million cases in 2012. If the growing trend continues at this pace, experts predict there will be 592 million cases of the disease globally by 2035.
It’s a good news/bad news situation on the pancreatic cancer front: Death rates are decreasing among blacks, but our rates still remain much higher than among whites. Researchers from the American Cancer Society studied pancreatic cancer deaths between 1970 and 2009 and found that death rates from this particularly deadly cancer among blacks increased between 1970 and the late 1980s for women and in the early 1990s for men, before beginning to decline. Though the lower death rates are good, they remain substantially higher among black folks than among their white counterparts. The disparities are not fully explained by differences in smoking rates, which have decreased among blacks and whites since 1965. Smoking is one of the major causes of pancreatic cancer.
New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has found that about one in 12 people in the U.S. has asthma. And the rate appears to be on the rise. From 2001 to 2011, the CDC says the number of Americans with asthma grew by 28 percent. According to the CDC, “the greatest rise in asthma rates was among black children (almost a 50 percent increase) from 2001 through 2009.” Research presented at this year’s American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting shows a corresponding rise in allergy rates as well.

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You’ve heard people arguing about Obamacare (officially known as The Affordable Care Act or ACA) for months … but you may have tuned it all out, because it’s all so confusing and you don’t even know how—or if—it affects you. But starting in 2014, the law will require most people to buy insurance or risk paying a $95 fine, so now’s the time to pay attention. And the fact is, you may discover that there are lots of benefits you’ll be able to take advantage of that you couldn’t before. Here’s a quick list of what’s great about the ACA, especially for young women:
You can stay on your parents’ health policy until you turn 26. Previously, most insurers did not allow young adults beyond age 21 to stay on their parents’ policies. More than 3 million young adults have gained coverage since this provision went into effect in 2010. Your parents will be charged the same rates as when you were younger. You can be covered by their policy even if you’re married, but the coverage won’t extend to your spouse.
You’re entitled to free preventive care, including birth control. Since 2012, nearly 30 million women have benefitted from free preventive services including checkups, screenings for diabetes and HIV, contraceptives and family planning counseling. Keep in mind, health plans may not cover all birth control, so your preferred method may not be one of the ones provided, but you will have at least one free option. Also, certain religious employers are exempt from the birth control requirement.
You may be eligible for government discounts on insurance. Starting October 1, new online health insurance exchanges will go live in every state, selling coverage that will take effect January 1, 2014. The exchanges will allow you to compare prices and benefits to find an insurance plan you can afford that fits your needs; if you still feel you can’t afford it, you can find out whether you’re entitled to a federal tax credit based on your income. The lower your income, the higher the tax credit. You can get the discount at the time you enroll. Find information on your state exchange here.
You’ll have maternity coverage, no matter what. You may not know this but only about 12 percent of health plans sold on the individual market currently include coverage for maternity, according to Judy Waxman of the National Women’s Law Center. But starting next year, all individual health plans will have to include 10 essential health benefits including maternity care, as well as hospitalization, prescription drugs, mental health services and preventive services.
You can’t be charged more than a guy. In most states, insurers are currently allowed to charge women more than men for individual coverage. According to the National Women’s Law Center, in 30 percent of cases, nonsmoking women were charged more than men who smoked. Such gender rating will be outlawed starting next year.
You can’t be rejected for having a “pre-existing condition.” Today, insurers can deny you health insurance if you have a chronic condition such as asthma or diabetes (in which case you’re considered a health risk); if they do accept you regardless of these conditions, they can still charge you more for coverage. But starting next year it will be illegal for them to penalize you this way; health premiums may vary based on three factors only: age, where you live, and whether you’re a smoker.
If you are an individual who makes under $16,000 a year, you may be eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program for the poor, and it’s being expanded by the law to those whose annual income is under the federal poverty level. However, because the Supreme Court ruled that the expansion is optional for states, only about half of them are participating.
If you’re a breastfeeding mom, you can pump at work more comfortably. Since 2011, the law has required employers to provide a “reasonable break time” and a private place (not a bathroom) for you to pump breast milk during the workday. The law also requires health plans to cover the costs of breastfeeding equipment and breastfeeding counseling without a copay.
One final note: Not everyone will see immediate coverage changes; many of you who get your insurance through your job are in “grandfathered” plans, which are exempt from some of the rules. Ask your company’s health benefits administrator if this is the case for you.
From Kaiser Health News

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What’s clutter got to do with your health? A lot more than you think! Merriam-Webster defines clutter as “a crowded or confused mass or collection.” That definition couldn’t be more perfect, but clutter does more than create an eyesore. If left uncontrolled, it can affect your health, too.
Clutter occurs when our possessions outweigh our allotted space. No matter how big your space is, you can still have too much stuff. There are many reasons why clutter forms, including our struggle or inability to let go of things we don’t need, whether for sentimental or other reasons. However, the impact of clutter on your health may be a good reason to release and free up some space:
Dust and dust mites. Got respiratory problems such as asthma or allergies? That cluttered area in your home might make your problems worse. A cluttered room means more surface for dust to rest and dust mites to breed! Get rid of your clutter and breathe a little easier (and healthier).
Mold. A cluttered area means poor air circulation, which can lead to a collection of moisture—the perfect scenario for mold to grow and thrive right in that cluttered closet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mold can cause many health problems, including eye and skin irritations.
Mental health/stress. A confused space can crowd your mental health, too, causing an inability to focus and increasing stress levels. A cluttered space may just be why you’re cranky and unproductive.
How to get rid of clutter:
If you’re willing to get rid of clutter by yourself or with the help of family and friends, take it one day at a time, area by area, so as not to overwhelm yourself. Thirty minutes to an hour is enough time to start.
Don’t be shy about asking for expert help if you need it. There are professionals who specialize in clutter removal who can help you through the process. Try the National Association of Professional Organizers to find an expert in your area.
Prevention is important. Once you’ve gotten clutter under control, prevent future clutter and operate by this rule: one in, one/two out. For example, if you have a cluttered closet, promise yourself to give away two items when you buy a new item.

The post What’s Clutter Got to Do With It? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Is your medicine cabinet filled with expired drugs or medications you no longer use? How should you dispose of them?
Most drugs can be thrown in the household trash, but consumers should take certain precautions before tossing them out, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A few drugs should be flushed down the toilet. And a growing number of community-based “take-back” programs offer another safe disposal alternative.
Guidelines for Drug Disposal
FDA worked with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to develop the first consumer guidance for proper disposal of prescription drugs. Issued by ONDCP in February 2007 and updated in October 2009, the federal guidelines are summarized here:
Follow any specific disposal instructions on the drug label or patient information that accompanies the medication. Do not flush prescription drugs down the toilet unless this information specifically instructs you to do so.
Take advantage of community drug take-back programs that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal. Call your city or county government’s household trash and recycling service (see blue pages in phone book) to see if a take-back program is available in your community. The Drug Enforcement Administration, working with state and local law enforcement agencies, is sponsoringNational Prescription Drug Take Back Days throughout the United States.
If no instructions are given on the drug label and no take-back program is available in your area, take them out of their original containers and mix them with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter—to make the medication less appealing and unrecognizable—then put them in a sealable bag, empty can, or other container to prevent the medication from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag.
FDA’s Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance Ilisa Bernstein, offers some additional tips:
Before throwing out a medicine container, scratch out all identifying information on the prescription label to make it unreadable. This will help protect your identity and the privacy of your personal health information.
Do not give medications to friends. Doctors prescribe drugs based on a person’s specific symptoms and medical history. A drug that works for you could be dangerous for someone else.
When in doubt about proper disposal, talk to your pharmacist.
Bernstein says the same disposal methods for prescription drugs could apply to over-the-counter drugs as well.
Why the Precautions?
Disposal instructions on the label are part of FDA’s “risk mitigation” strategy, says Jim Hunter, senior program manager on FDA’s Controlled Substance Staff. When a drug contains instructions to flush it down the toilet, he says, it’s because FDA, working with the manufacturer, has determined this method to be the most appropriate route of disposal that presents the least risk to safety.
Drugs such as powerful narcotic pain relievers and other controlled substances carry instructions for flushing to reduce the danger of unintentional use or overdose and illegal abuse.
For example, the fentanyl patch, an adhesive patch that delivers a potent pain medicine through the skin, comes with instructions to flush used or leftover patches. Too much fentanyl can cause severe breathing problems and lead to death in babies, children, pets and even adults, especially those who have not been prescribed the drug. “Even after a patch is used, a lot of the drug remains in the patch,” says Hunter, “so you wouldn’t want to throw something in the trash that contains a powerful and potentially dangerous narcotic that could harm others.”
Environmental Concerns
Despite the safety reasons for flushing drugs, some people are questioning the practice because of concerns about trace levels of drug residues found in surface water, such as rivers and lakes, and in some community drinking water supplies. However, the main way drug residues enter water systems is by people taking medications and then naturally passing them through their bodies, says Raanan Bloom, Ph.D., an environmental assessment expert in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Most drugs are not completely absorbed or metabolized by the body, and enter the environment after passing through waste water treatment plants.”
A company that wants FDA to approve its drug must submit an application package to the agency. FDA requires, as part of the application package, an assessment of how the drug’s use would affect the environment. Some drug applications are excluded from the assessment requirement, says Bloom, based on previous agency actions.
“For those drugs for which environmental assessments have been required, there has been no indication of environmental effects due to flushing,” says Bloom. In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, scientists to date have found no evidence of adverse human health effects from pharmaceutical residues in the environment.
Nonetheless, FDA does not want to add drug residues into water systems unnecessarily, says Hunter. The agency reviewed its drug labels to identify products with disposal directions recommending flushing or disposal down the sink. This continuously revised listing can be found at FDA’s Web page on Disposal of Unused Medicines.
Another environmental concern lies with inhalers used by people who have asthma or other breathing problems, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Traditionally, many inhalers have contained chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), a propellant that damages the protective ozone layer. The CFC inhalers are being phased out and replaced with more environmentally friendly inhalers.
Depending on the type of product and where you live, inhalers and aerosol products may be thrown into household trash or recyclables, or may be considered hazardous waste and require special handling. Read the handling instructions on the label, as some inhalers should not be punctured or thrown into a fire or incinerator. To ensure safe disposal, contact your local trash and recycling facility.

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Vaccines can protect you from harmful infections. Some adults think only children need vaccines. But this is not true. For instance, a yearly flu vaccine is recommended for adults of all ages, including healthy adults. You may need certain vaccines because of:

Your age
Your health or health history
Where you live
Where your work and the kind of work you do
Your lifestyle

Find out what vaccines you may need:

Young adults ages 19 to 24
Adults ages 19 to 64
Seniors ages 65 and older
Pregnant women
People with health conditions (asthma, heart disease, cancer,diabetes, or HIV)

The post Vaccines: Not Just for Kids appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Children who are overweight and obese are more likely to be diagnosed with asthma, say the findings of a new study. Those who have the lung condition have more severe cases of it than youngsters who are normal weight. In addition, heavier kids and teens with asthma have more frequent emergency room visits and use more rescue medications.
“If parents are noticing that their overweight or obese child is having asthma-like symptoms, one thing to pay attention to, instead of just addressing the asthma, is to address the child’s weight,” says study lead author Mary Helen Black, the study’s lead author of Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s department of research and evaluation.
For their study, Black and her colleagues looked through electronic health records of 623,000 6- to 19-year-olds covered by Kaiser’s health plan from 2007 through 2011. None of the children initially had asthma. But by the end of the study, about 32,000 of them were diagnosed with the condition.
The researchers found that the more children weighed, the more likely they were to develop asthma. The overweight (but not obese) kids were 16 percent more likely to be diagnosed with asthma than kids of normal weight. Obese kids were 37 percent more likely to develop asthma.
In the year following diagnosis, 106 out of every 1,000 obese children made a trip to the emergency room and were more likely to need rescue medicines; 87 of every 1,000 slimmer kids with asthma went to the ER.
The researchers believe inflammation seen in obese patients or the extra weight on airways could contribute to asthma risk and severity. “Those who are extremely obese have a more restricted capacity for air exchange,” Black says. “If an extremely obese child is able to get down into even the overweight range, they may have a much greater capacity for breathing normally.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 11 U.S. children has asthma. Black children are 3.6 times more likely to visit the emergency department for asthma, and they have a death rate 7 times that of white children. One in five black children is considered obese.

The post Study: Heavy Children at Higher Risk of Asthma appeared first on Black Health Matters.

A recent study found that African-American women who reported suffering abuse before age 11 had a greater likelihood of adult-onset asthma compared to women whose childhood and adolescence were free of abuse.
The study followed 28,456 African-American women, all participants in the Black Women’s Health Study, between 1995-2011. They completed health questionnaires and provided information on physical and sexual abuse during childhood up to age 11 and adolescence, ages 12 to 18. The results show the incidence of adult-onset asthma increased by more than 20 percent among women who had been abused during childhood. The evidence was stronger for physical abuse than for sexual abuse.
“This is the first study to show an association between childhood abuse and adult-onset asthma,” says Patricia Coogan, lead epidemiologist on the study. “The results suggest chronic stress contributes to asthma onset, even years later.” Researchers believe the link between childhood abuse and asthma incidence is stress and its physiological consequences, including effects on the immune system and airway development.
In 2010, approximately 695,000 children aged 0 to 17 neglected or abused, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Service’s National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, and 22 percent of neglected or abused children were African American. National statistics show asthma is more prevalent in African Americans.
“Given the high prevalence of asthma and childhood abuse in the United States,” Coogan says, “the association is of significant public health importance.”

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A recent survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians found what women already know: 38 percent of men go to the doctor only when they’re extremely sick or when symptoms don’t dissipate on their own. (The study didn’t mention guys who go when their significant others make them!) But waiting for health issues to get better could lead to serious complications—or worse: a late diagnosis.
Stop waiting around, guys! If you experience any of the following five symptoms, do not pass go, do not collect $200; head straight to your doctor’s office.

1. Blood in your urine. If it you can see it with your naked eye, there’s a problem. Bloody urine is a main symptom of an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer. It could also be a sign of stones or cancer in your bladder or kidney; inflammation or infection of the bladder, kidney or urethra; or a kidney injury.
2. Chest pain. Yes, chest pain is most associated with a heart attack, but it could be caused by another heart problem, like angina. Asthma, pneumonia, pulmonary embolisms, acid reflux and stomach ulcers could also show up as chest pain.
3. Dizziness. That light-headed, room-spinning sensation can happen if there’s a sudden drop in blood pressure or from dehydration. If you have allergies, flu or hypoglycemia, you might also get dizzy. It also can indicate a serious health risk like heart disease, shock or stroke.
4. Erectile dysfunction. Sure, it happens to everybody at one time or another, but roughly 70 percent of cases of erectile dysfunction are caused by another medical condition, including diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or multiple sclerosis.
5. Excessive thirst. Find yourself reaching for the water bottle a lot more than usual? Excessive thirst can be an indication you have a health condition such as diabetes, internal bleeding, severe infection, or a failure of the heart, liver or kidneys.

The post 5 Warning Symptoms Men Shouldn’t Ignore appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Employers have instituted a variety of workplace wellness programs and initiatives in the past decade in an effort to curb costs. And an online survey from last summer showed more than 50 percent of large businesses are considering adopting some sort of wellness program. In a country with rapidly growing obesity and other lifestyle-related health issues, it makes good business sense for employers to pay attention to the health and wellness of their employees.
What Is a Workplace Wellness Program?
So what exactly is a corporate workplace wellness program? There are many different types. The most all encompassing is the fitness program. This is when employers offer employees discounts on gym memberships, rebates on fitness equipment, construct onsite gyms and organize sports teams to encourage employee fitness and camaraderie.
Another type is the nutrition-based program. This program entails offering healthy menu options in the company cafeteria and vending machines, counseling sessions and educational seminars. Many companies recruit a registered dietitian to coordinate such programs.
Smoking cessation programs are also very popular in the workplace. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees who smoke cost companies about $1,300 a year more than employees who don’t light up. Because of this, and the fact that insurers charge smokers higher premiums, employers have a vested interest in lowering this number.
Yet another popular workplace wellness program is pregnancy and maternity wellness. These programs were designed largely because workplace discrimination due to pregnancy is illegal, but the fact remains that before, during and after childbirth, pregnant mothers cost companies money.
Traci Starks of North Carolina has benefited greatly from the wellness program at the community college where she works. “I was always a healthy eater,” she says, “but the pamphlets they have in our break rooms give me even more ideas on how to eat healthy and have more variety in my meals.”
Employee Wellness Twist: Financial Gain for Weight Loss
A new twist in employee wellness programs is to link incentives to employee behavior. In these programs, employees can get points linked to cash, points or prizes for doing things like completing health surveys, allowing their healthy habits to be monitored by their employers or entering competitive weight-loss programs. A new study from the Mayo Clinic found that this type of program does produce results.
In the study, two groups tried to lose weight. The group that received financial incentive followed the weight-loss regimen more closely and lost more weight. “The take-home message is that sustained weight loss can be achieved by financial incentives,” said Steven Driver, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic. “The financial incentives can improve results, and improve compliance and adherence.”
Penalties for Noncompliance
Perhaps the most controversial employee wellness programs are ones that penalize employees who don’t follow the plan. One such plan, already in place at a West Coast grocery chain, offers employees with chronic illnesses such as asthma or diabetes personal health care personnel and reduced prescription costs. But employees who opt out of the program face higher insurance deductibles to the tune of $500.
Discounts on prescriptions and a personal nurse seem like no-brainers; who wouldn’t want to save money? But less than a third of the grocery chain’;s employees have enrolled.
They aren’t alone in their aversion to what is seen as an intrusion. “I don’t want my job to know how much I drink or whether or not I eat my vegetables; it feels invasive,” says Melanie Miller,* who works for a major airline that offers financial incentives to employees who fill out surveys giving details about their health and fitness habits.
Disadvantages of Employee Wellness Programs
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) supports workplace wellness programs, both participatory (available without regard to an employee’s health status) and health-contingent (require employees to meet a health-related standard to receive a reward). ACA allows companies to choose the type of program they want to use. Some experts fear health-contingent plans may force employees to avoid going to the doctor.
Other concerns about wellness programs include:
Privacy issues. If an employee believes a program’s initial assessment will require disclosing an embarrassing illness that could open her up to discrimination, she may not participate in the program.
Lack of time. Many wellness programs require a time commitment that employees may not be able to make.
One thing is clear: Wellness programs, done right, help improve a company’s bottom line. Studies show companies with wellness programs have decreased health-care costs, less sick leave and greater worker productivity. If employees get healthy in the process, well, that’s a benefit, too.

The post Wellness in the Workplace appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to a group of lung diseases that block airflow and make breathing difficult.
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the two most common conditions that make up COPD. Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the lining of your bronchial tubes, which carry air to and from your lungs. Emphysema occurs when the air sacs (alveoli) at the end of the smallest air passages (bronchioles) in the lungs are gradually destroyed.
Damage to your lungs from COPD can’t be reversed, but treatment can help control symptoms and minimize further damage.
Symptoms
Symptoms of COPD often don’t appear until significant lung damage has occurred, and they usually worsen over time. For chronic bronchitis, the main symptom is a cough that you have at least three months a year for two consecutive years. Other signs and symptoms of COPD include:
Shortness of breath, especially during physical activities
Wheezing
Chest tightness
Having to clear your throat first thing in the morning, due to excess mucus in your lungs
A chronic cough that produces sputum that may be clear, white, yellow or greenish
Blueness of the lips or fingernail beds (cyanosis)
Frequent respiratory infections
Lack of energy
Unintended weight loss (in later stages)
People with COPD are also likely to experience episodes called exacerbations, during which their symptoms become worse and persist for days or longer.
Causes
The main cause of COPD is tobacco smoking. However, in the developing world, COPD often occurs in women exposed to fumes from burning fuel for cooking and heating in poorly ventilated homes. Only about 20 percent of chronic smokers develop COPD. Some smokers develop less common lung conditions. They may be misdiagnosed as having COPD until a more thorough evaluation is performed.
How your lungs are affected
Air travels down your windpipe (trachea) and into your lungs through two large tubes (bronchi). Inside your lungs, these tubes divide many times—like the branches of a tree—into many smaller tubes (bronchioles) that end in clusters of tiny air sacs (alveoli). The air sacs have very thin walls full of tiny blood vessels (capillaries). The oxygen in the air you inhale passes into these blood vessels and enters your bloodstream. At the same time, carbon dioxide—a gas that is a waste product of metabolism—is exhaled.
Your lungs rely on the natural elasticity of the bronchial tubes and air sacs to force air out of your body. COPD causes them to lose their elasticity and partially collapse, which leaves some air trapped in your lungs when you exhale.
Causes of airway obstruction
Emphysema. This lung disease causes destruction of the fragile walls and elastic fibers of the alveoli. Small airways collapse when you exhale, impairing airflow out of your lungs.
Chronic bronchitis. In this condition, your bronchial tubes become inflamed and narrowed and your lungs produce more mucus, which can further block the narrowed tubes. You develop a chronic cough trying to clear your airways.
Cigarette smoke and other irritants
In the vast majority of cases, the lung damage that leads to COPD is caused by long-term cigarette smoking. But there are likely other factors at play in the development of COPD, such as a genetic susceptibility to the disease, because only about 20 percent of smokers develop COPD.
Other irritants can cause COPD, including cigar smoke, secondhand smoke, pipe smoke, air pollution and workplace exposure to dust, smoke or fumes.
Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency
In about 1 percent of people with COPD, the disease results from a genetic disorder that causes low levels of a protein called alpha-1-antitrypsin. Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAt) is made in the liver and secreted into the bloodstream to help protect the lungs. Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency can affect the liver as well as the lungs. Damage to the liver can occur in infants and children, not just adults with long smoking histories. For adults with COPD related to AAt deficiency, treatment options are the same as those for people with more common types of COPD. Some people can be treated by replacing the missing AAt protein, which may prevent further damage to the lungs.
Risk Factors
Risk factors for COPD include:
Exposure to tobacco smoke. The most significant risk factor for COPD is long-term cigarette smoking. The more years you smoke and the more packs you smoke, the greater your risk. Pipe smokers, cigar smokers, marijuana smokers and people exposed to large amounts of secondhand smoke also are at risk.
People with asthma who smoke. The combination of asthma, a chronic airway disease, and smoking increases the risk of COPD even more.
Occupational exposure to dusts and chemicals. Long-term exposure to chemical fumes, vapors and dusts in the workplace can irritate and inflame your lungs.
Age. COPD develops slowly over years, so most people are at least 35 to 40 years old when symptoms begin.
Genetics. An uncommon genetic disorder known as alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency is the source of some cases of COPD. Other genetic factors likely make certain smokers more susceptible to the disease.
Complications
Complications of COPD include:
Respiratory infections. People with COPD are more susceptible to colds, the flu and pneumonia. Any respiratory infection can make it much more difficult to breathe and produce further damage to the lung tissue. An annual flu vaccination and regular vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia help prevent some infections.
High blood pressure. COPD may cause high blood pressure in the arteries that bring blood to your lungs (pulmonary hypertension).
Heart problems. For reasons that aren’t fully understood, COPD increases your risk of heart disease, including heart attack.
Lung cancer. Smokers with chronic bronchitis have greater risk of developing lung cancer than do smokers who don’t have chronic bronchitis.
Depression. Difficulty breathing can keep you from doing activities that you enjoy. And dealing with serious illness can contribute to development of depression. Talk to your doctor if you feel sad or helpless or think that you may be experiencing depression.
Tests and Diagnosis
COPD is commonly misdiagnosed—former smokers are often told they have COPD when in reality they have another less common lung condition. Likewise, many persons who truly do have COPD aren’t diagnosed until the disease is far advanced and interventions are less effective.
If you have symptoms of COPD and a history of exposure to lung irritants—especially cigarette smoke—your doctor may recommend these tests:
Pulmonary function tests. Spirometry is the most common lung function test. During this test, you’ll be asked to blow into a large tube connected to a spirometer. This machine measures how much air your lungs can hold and how fast you can blow the air out of your lungs. Spirometry can detect COPD even before you have symptoms of the disease. It can also be used to track the progression of disease and to monitor how well treatment is working.
Chest X-ray. A chest X-ray can show emphysema, one of the main causes of COPD. An X-ray can also rule out other lung problems or heart failure.
CT scan. A CT scan of your lungs can help detect emphysema and help determine if you might benefit from surgery for COPD. CT scans can also be used to screen for lung cancer, which is more common among people with COPD than it is among those who smoked but didn’t develop COPD.
Arterial blood gas analysis. This blood test measures how well your lungs are bringing oxygen into your blood and removing carbon dioxide.
Treatments and Drugs
A diagnosis of COPD is not the end of the world. For all stages of disease, effective therapy is available which can control symptoms, reduce your risk of complications and exacerbations, and improve your ability to lead an active life.
Smoking cessation
The most essential step in any treatment plan for COPD is to stop all smoking. It’s the only way to keep COPD from getting worse—which can eventually reduce your ability to breathe. But quitting smoking isn’t easy. And this task may seem particularly daunting if you’ve tried to quit and have been unsuccessful. Talk to your doctor about nicotine replacement products and medications that might help, as well as how to handle relapses. It’s also a good idea to avoid secondhand smoke exposure whenever possible.
Medications
Doctors use several kinds of medications to treat the symptoms and complications of COPD. You may take some medications on a regular basis and others as needed:
Bronchodilators. These medications—which usually come in an inhaler—relax the muscles around your airways. This can help relieve coughing and shortness of breath and make breathing easier. Depending on the severity of your disease, you may need a short-acting bronchodilator before activities, a long-acting bronchodilator that you use every day, or both.Short-acting bronchodilators include albuterol (ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA, others), levalbuterol (Xopenex) and ipratropium (Atrovent). The long-acting bronchodilators include tiotropium (Spiriva), salmeterol (Serevent), formoterol (Foradil, Perforomist), arformoterol (Brovana), indacaterol (Arcapta) and aclidinium (Tudorza).
Inhaled steroids. Inhaled corticosteroid medications can reduce airway inflammation and help prevent exacerbations. Side effects may include bruising, oral infections and hoarseness. These medications are useful for people with frequent exacerbations of COPD. Fluticasone (Flovent) and budesonide (Pulmicort) are examples of inhaled steroids.
Combination inhalers. Some medications combine bronchodilators and inhaled steroids. Salmeterol and fluticasone (Advair) and formoterol and budesonide (Symbicort) are examples of combination inhalers.
Oral steroids. For people who have a moderate or severe acute exacerbation, oral steroids prevent further worsening of COPD. However, these medications can have serious side effects, such as weight gain, diabetes, osteoporosis, cataracts and an increased risk of infection.
Phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors. A new type of medication approved for people with severe COPD is roflumilast (Daliresp), a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor. This drug decreases airway inflammation and relaxes the airways. Common side effects include diarrhea and weight loss.
Theophylline. This very inexpensive medication helps improve breathing and prevents exacerbations. Side effects may include nausea, fast heartbeat and tremor.
Antibiotics. Respiratory infections, such as acute bronchitis, pneumonia and influenza, can aggravate COPD symptoms. Antibiotics help fight acute exacerbations. The antibiotic azithromycin prevents exacerbations, but it isn’t clear whether this is due to its antibiotic effect or its anti-inflammatory properties.
Lung therapies
Doctors often use these additional therapies for people with moderate or severe COPD:
Oxygen therapy. If there isn’t enough oxygen in your blood, you may need supplemental oxygen. There are several devices to deliver oxygen to your lungs, including lightweight, portable units that you can take with you to run errands and get around town. Some people with COPD use oxygen only during activities or while sleeping. Others use oxygen all the time. Oxygen therapy can improve quality of life and is the only COPD therapy proven to extend life. Talk to your doctor about your needs and options.
Pulmonary rehabilitation program. These programs typically combine education, exercise training, nutrition advice and counseling. You’ll work with a variety of specialists, who can tailor your rehabilitation program to meet your needs. Pulmonary rehabilitation may shorten hospitalizations, increase your ability to participate in everyday activities and improve your quality of life. Talk to your doctor about referral to a program.
Managing exacerbations
Even with ongoing treatment, you may experience times when symptoms become worse for days or weeks. This is called an acute exacerbation, and it may lead to lung failure if you don’t receive prompt treatment. Exacerbations may be caused by a respiratory infection, air pollution, or other triggers of inflammation. Whatever the cause, it’s important to seek prompt medical help if you notice a sustained increase in coughing, a change in your mucus or if you have a harder time breathing.
When exacerbations occur, you may need additional medications (such as antibiotics or steroids), supplemental oxygen or treatment in the hospital. Once symptoms improve, you’ll want to take measures to prevent future exacerbations, such as taking inhaled steroids or long-acting bronchodilators, getting your annual flu vaccine and avoiding air pollution whenever possible.
Surgery
Surgery is an option for some people with some forms of severe emphysema who aren’t helped sufficiently by medications alone:
Lung volume reduction surgery. In this surgery, your surgeon removes small wedges of damaged lung tissue. This creates extra space in your chest cavity so that the remaining lung tissue and the diaphragm work more efficiently. In some people, this surgery can improve quality of life and prolong survival.
Lung transplant. Lung transplantation may be an option for certain people who meet specific criteria. Transplantation can improve your ability to breathe and to be active, but it’s a major operation that has significant risks, such as organ rejection, and it obligates you to take lifelong immune-suppressing medications.
Lifestyle and Home Remedies
If you have COPD, you can take steps to feel better and slow the damage to your lungs:
Control your breathing. Talk to your doctor or respiratory therapist about techniques for breathing more efficiently throughout the day. Also be sure to discuss breathing positions and relaxation techniques that you can use when you’re short of breath.
Clear your airways. With COPD, mucus tends to collect in your air passages and can be difficult to clear. Controlled coughing, drinking plenty of water and using a humidifier may help.
Exercise regularly. It may seem difficult to exercise when you have trouble breathing, but regular exercise can improve your overall strength and endurance and strengthen your respiratory muscles.
Eat healthy foods. A healthy diet can help you maintain your strength. If you’re underweight, your doctor may recommend nutritional supplements. If you’re overweight, losing weight can significantly help your breathing, especially during times of exertion.
Avoid smoke and air pollution. In addition to quitting smoking, it’s important to avoid places where others smoke. Secondhand smoke may contribute to further lung damage. Other types of air pollution also can irritate your lungs.
See your doctor regularly. Stick to your appointment schedule, even if you’re feeling fine. It’s important to steadily monitor your lung function. And, be sure to get your annual flu vaccine in October or November to help prevent infections that can worsen your COPD. Ask your doctor when you need the pneumococcal vaccine.
Coping and Support
Living with COPD can be a challenge—especially as it becomes harder to catch your breath. You may have to give up some activities you previously enjoyed. Your family and friends may have difficulty adjusting to some of the changes.
It can help to share your fears and feelings with your family, friends and doctor. You may also want to consider joining a support group for people with COPD. And you may benefit from counseling or medication if you feel depressed or overwhelmed.
Prevention
Unlike some diseases, COPD has a clear cause and a clear path of prevention. The vast majority of cases are directly related to cigarette smoking, and the best way to prevent COPD is to never smoke—or to stop smoking.
If you’re a longtime smoker, these simple statements may not seem so simple, especially if you’ve tried quitting—once, twice or many times before. But, keep trying. It’s critical to find a tobacco cessation program that can help you quit for good. It’s your best chance for preventing damage to your lungs.
Occupational exposure to chemical fumes and dust is another risk factor for COPD. If you work with this type of lung irritant, talk to your supervisor about the best ways to protect yourself, such as using respiratory protective equipment.

The post All About COPD appeared first on Black Health Matters.

What Is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is a common health problem in women. It gets its name from the word, endometrium, the tissue that lines the uterus or womb. Endometriosis occurs when this tissue grows outside of the uterus on other organs or structures in the body. Most often, endometriosis is found on the:

-Ovaries
-Fallopian tubes
-Tissues that hold the uterus in place
-Outer surface of the uterus
-Lining of the pelvic cavity

Other sites for growths can include the vagina, cervix, vulva, bowel, bladder, or rectum. In rare cases, endometriosis has been found in other parts of the body, such as the lungs, brain, and skin.

What Are the Symptoms of Endometriosis?

The most common symptom of endometriosis is pain in the lower abdomen or pelvis, or the lower back, mainly during menstrual periods. The amount of pain a woman feels does not depend on how much endometriosis she has. Some women have no pain, even though their disease affects large areas. Other women with endometriosis have severe pain even though they have only a few small growths. Symptoms of endometriosis can include:

-Very painful menstrual cramps; pain may get worse over time
-Chronic pain in the lower back and pelvis
-Pain during or after sex
-Intestinal pain
-Painful bowel movements or painful urination during menstrual periods
-Spotting or bleeding between menstrual periods
-Infertility or not being able to get pregnant
-Fatigue
-Diarrhea, constipation, bloating, or nausea, especially during menstrual periods

Recent research shows a link between other health problems in women with endometriosis and their families. Some of these include:
-Allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities
-Autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s system that fights illness attacks itself instead. These can include hypothyroidism, multiple sclerosis, and lupus.
-Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia
-Being more likely to get infections and mononucleosis
-Mitral valve prolapse, a condition in which one of the heart’s valves does not close as tightly as normal
-Frequent yeast infections
-Certain cancers, such as ovarian, breast, endocrine, kidney, thyroid, brain, and colon cancers, and melanoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Why Does Endometriosis Cause Pain and Health Problems?

Growths of endometriosis are benign. But they still can cause many problems. To see why, it helps to understand a woman’s menstrual cycle. Every month, hormones cause the lining of a woman’s uterus to build up with tissue and blood vessels. If a woman does not get pregnant, the uterus sheds this tissue and blood. It comes out of the body through the vagina as her menstrual period.

Patches of endometriosis also respond to the hormones produced during the menstrual cycle. With the passage of time, the growths of endometriosis may expand by adding extra tissue and blood. The symptoms of endometriosis often get worse.
Tissue and blood that is shed into the body can cause inflammation, scar tissue, and pain. As endometrial tissue grows, it can cover or grow into the ovaries and block the fallopian tubes. Trapped blood in the ovaries can form cysts, or closed sacs. It also can cause inflammation and cause the body to form scar tissue and adhesions, tissue that sometimes binds organs together. This scar tissue may cause pelvic pain and make it hard for women to get pregnant. The growths can also cause problems in the intestines and bladder.

Who Gets Endometriosis?

More than five million women in the United States have endometriosis. It is one of the most common health problems for women. It can occur in any teen or woman who has menstrual periods, but it is most common in women in their 30s and 40s.
The symptoms of endometriosis stop for a time during pregnancy. Symptoms also tend to decrease with menopause, when menstrual periods end for good. In some cases, women who take menopausal hormone therapy may still have symptoms of endometriosis.

What Can Raise My Chances of Getting Endometriosis?

You might be more likely to get endometriosis if you have:
-Never had children
-Menstrual periods that last more than seven days
-Short menstrual cycles (27 days or less)
-A family member (mother, aunt, sister) with endometriosis
-A health problem that prevents normal passage of menstrual blood flow
-Damage to cells in the pelvis from an infection
-How Can I Reduce My Chances of Getting Endometriosis?
-There are no definite ways to lower your chances of getting endometriosis. Yet, since the hormone estrogen is involved in thickening the lining of the uterus during the menstrual cycle, you can try to lower levels of estrogen in your body.
-To keep lower estrogen levels in your body, you can:
-Exercise regularly
-Keep a low amount of body fat
-Avoid large amounts of alcohol and drinks with caffeine

Why Is It Important to Find Out If I Have Endometriosis?

The pain of endometriosis can interfere with your life. Studies show that women with endometriosis often skip school, work and social events. This health problem can also get in the way of relationships with your partner, friends, children and co-workers. Plus, endometriosis can make it hard for you to get pregnant.

Finding out that you have endometriosis is the first step in taking back your life. Many treatments can control the symptoms. Medicine can relieve your pain. When endometriosis causes fertility problems, surgery can boost your chances of getting pregnant.

How Do I Know That I Have Endometriosis?

If you have symptoms of this disease, talk with your doctor or your obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN). An OB/GYN has special training to diagnose and treat this condition. Sometimes endometriosis is mistaken for other health problems that cause pelvic pain and the exact cause might be hard to pinpoint.

The doctor will talk to you about your symptoms and health history. The doctor may also do these tests to check for clues of endometriosis:

-Pelvic exam. Your doctor will perform a pelvic exam to feel for large cysts or scars behind your uterus. Smaller areas of endometriosis are hard to feel.

-Ultrasound. Your doctor could perform an ultrasound, an imaging test to see if there are ovarian cysts from endometriosis. During a vaginal ultrasound, the doctor will insert a wand-shaped scanner into your vagina. During an ultrasound of your pelvis, a scanner is moved across your abdomen. Both tests use sound waves to make pictures of your reproductive organs. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is another common imaging test that can produce a picture of the inside of your body.

-Laparoscopy. The only way for your doctor to know for sure that you have endometriosis is to look inside your abdomen to see endometriosis tissue. He or she can do this through a minor surgery called laparoscopy. You will receive general anesthesia before the surgery. Then, your abdomen is expanded with a gas to make it easy to see your organs. A tiny cut is made in your abdomen and a thin tube with a light is placed inside to see growths from endometriosis. Sometimes doctors can diagnose endometriosis just by seeing the growths. Other times, they need to take a small sample of tissue and study it under a microscope. If your doctor does not find signs of an ovarian cyst during an ultrasound, before doing a laparoscopy, your doctor may prescribe birth control pills to control your menstrual cycle. Sometimes this treatment helps lessen pelvic pain during your period. Some doctors may offer another treatment that blocks the menstrual cycle and lowers the amount of estrogen your body makes before doing a laparoscopy. This treatment is a medicine called a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist, which also may help pelvic pain. If your pain improves on this medicine, the doctor will likely think that you have endometriosis.
Laparoscopy is often recommended for diagnosis and treatment if the pelvic pain persists, even after taking birth control pills and pain medicine.

What Causes Endometriosis?

No one knows for sure what causes this disease, but experts have a number of theories:

-Since endometriosis runs in families, it may be carried in the genes, or some families have traits that make them more likely to get it.
-Endometrial tissue may move from the uterus to other body parts through the blood system or lymph system.
-If a woman has a faulty immune system it will fail to find and destroy endometrial tissue growing outside of the uterus. Recent research shows that immune system disorders and certain cancers are more common in women with endometriosis.
-The hormone estrogen appears to promote the growth of endometriosis. So, some research is looking at whether it is a disease of the endocrine system, the body’s system of glands, hormones, and other secretions.
-Endometrial tissue has been found in abdominal scars and might have been moved there by mistake during a surgery.
-Small amounts of tissue from when a woman was an embryo might later become endometriosis.
-New research shows a link between dioxin exposure and getting endometriosis. Dioxin is a toxic chemical from the making of pesticides and the burning of wastes. More research is needed to find out whether man-made chemicals cause endometriosis.
-Endometrial tissue may back up into the abdomen through the fallopian tubes during a woman’s monthly period. This transplanted tissue could grow outside of the uterus. However, most experts agree that this theory does not entirely explain why endometriosis develops.

How Is Endometriosis Treated?

There is no cure for endometriosis, but there are many treatments for the pain and infertility that it causes. Talk with your doctor about what option is best for you. The treatment you choose will depend on your symptoms, age, and plans for getting pregnant.

-Pain medication. For some women with mild symptoms, doctors may suggest taking over-the-counter medicines for pain. These include ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve). When these medicines don’t help, doctors may prescribe stronger pain relievers.
-Hormone treatment. When pain medicine is not enough, doctors often recommend hormone medicines to treat endometriosis. Only women who do not wish to become pregnant can use these drugs. Hormone treatment is best for women with small growths who do not have bad pain. Hormones come in many forms including pills, shots, and nasal sprays.

Common hormones used for endometriosis include:
-Birth control pills to decrease the amount of menstrual flow and prevent overgrowth of tissue that lines the uterus. Most birth control pills contain two hormones, estrogen and progestin. Once a woman stops taking them, she can get pregnant again. Stopping these pills will cause the symptoms of endometriosis to return.

-GnRH agonists and antagonists greatly reduce the amount of estrogen in a woman’s body, which stops the menstrual cycle. These drugs should not be used alone because they can cause side effects similar to those during menopause, such as hot flashes, bone loss, and vaginal dryness. Taking a low dose of progestin or estrogen along with these drugs can protect against these side effects. When a woman stops taking this medicine, monthly periods and the ability to get pregnant return. She also might stay free of the problems of endometriosis for months or years afterward.

-Progestins. The hormone progestin can shrink spots of endometriosis by working against the effects of estrogen on the tissue. It will stop a woman’s menstrual periods, but can cause irregular vaginal bleeding. Medroxyprogesterone (Depo-Provera) is a common progestin taken as a shot. Side effects of progestin can include weight gain, depressed mood, and decreased bone growth.

-Danazol is a weak male hormone that lowers the levels of estrogen and progesterone in a woman’s body. This stops a woman’s period or makes it come less often. It is not often the first choice for treatment due to its side effects, such as oily skin, weight gain, tiredness, smaller breasts, and facial hair growth. It does not prevent pregnancy and can harm a baby growing in the uterus. It also cannot be used with other hormones, such as birth control pills.

-Surgery. Surgery is usually the best choice for women with severe endometriosis—many growths, a great deal of pain, or fertility problems. There are both minor and more complex surgeries that can help. Your doctor might suggest one of the following:
Laparoscopy can be used to diagnose and treat endometriosis. During this surgery, doctors remove growths and scar tissue or burn them away. The goal is to treat the endometriosis without harming the healthy tissue around it. Women recover from laparoscopy much faster than from major abdominal surgery.

-Laparotomy or major abdominal surgery that involves a much larger cut in the abdomen than with laparoscopy. This allows the doctor to reach and remove growths of endometriosis in the pelvis or abdomen.

-Hysterectomy is a surgery in which the doctor removes the uterus. Removing the ovaries as well can help ensure that endometriosis will not return. This is done when the endometriosis has severely damaged these organs. A woman cannot get pregnant after this surgery, so it should only be considered as a last resort.

How Do I Cope With a Disease That Has No Cure?

You may feel many emotions—sadness, fright, anger, confusion, and loneliness. It is important to get support to cope with endometriosis. Consider joining a support group to talk with other women who have endometriosis. There are support groups on the Internet and in many communities.

It is also important to learn as much as you can about the disease. Talking with friends, family, and your doctor can help.

The post The Truth About Endometriosis appeared first on Black Health Matters.

For many African Americans ozone and air pollution aren’t on our radar—but they should be. Why? Because they have serious health impacts on our families and communities.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health:
In 2010, almost 4,500,000 non-Hispanic blacks reported that they currently have asthma.
In 2010, African Americans were 30 percent more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic whites.
In 2009, African Americans were three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes than the white population.
From 2003-05, African-American children had a death rate seven times that of non-Hispanic white children.
African Americans had asthma-related emergency room visits 4.5 times more often than whites in 2004.
Black children are 3.6 times more likely to visit the emergency department for asthma, as compared to non-Hispanic white children.
Children in poor families are more likely to ever have been diagnosed with asthma.
While all of the causes of asthma remain unclear, children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke are at increased risk for acute lower respiratory tract infections, such as asthma, and children living below or near the poverty level are more likely to have high blood cotinine levels, a breakdown product of nicotine, than children living in higher income families.
These are national statistics, but they have local implications.
How air pollution impacts North Carolina’s urban areas, including the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte-metro area:
Ground-level ozone, which is caused mainly by emissions from cars and trucks and from coal-burning power plants that supply most of our electricity, is the root cause of the two main air pollution problems in the Triangle and Piedmont regions of North Carolina. Warm temperatures combined with ground-level ozone make breathing for residents in our area unhealthy.
In 2002, a hot, dry year, we experienced 29 Ozone Action Days of air quality code orange or red in the Triangle, 31 in the Triad and 36 in the Charlotte area. That’s about a month of unhealthful air conditions in each of North Carolina’s three major population centers. This isn’t a problem that will go away anytime soon.
Our warm seasons are getting longer and the temperatures are getting hotter, which means our air quality is getting worse.
The statistics on health impacts to African Americans and local air pollution are concerning, but what’s even more concerning is African Americans have decided that asthma is just a way of life for us. If and when we get diagnosed, we pick up our prescriptions, take our dose of medication as directed and move on with our life. But we don’t have to.
We have the power to create change.
Contact the EPA and tell them to tighten and finalize the ozone standards, which include higher standards for gasoline and car makers. Tell your congressional, state and local leaders to make sure they support tougher standards and oppose any efforts to block those standards.
How can you help every day?
Leave your car at home. Take the bus, car pool, van pool, walk or ride your bike to your destination.
Don’t drive to lunch. Take a meal or walk to a nearby restaurant instead of driving out to eat during the workday.
Drive right. When you do drive your car, use cruise control whenever practical and stay within the speed limit. Avoid sudden stops and starts. Plan ahead and combine short trips whenever possible to avoid cold starts. Your vehicle may be your single biggest impact on air quality. Make air quality a priority by factoring emissions and fuel efficiency into your vehicle purchasing decisions. Find how vehicles compare by using the EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide or the U.S. Department of Energy’s fuel economy website.
Keep vehicles maintained. Keep your car, boat and lawn equipment tuned up and follow your car’s maintenance schedule. Engines that are well maintained are more fuel-efficient and cause less pollution.
Check your tire pressure. Keep your tires properly inflated; you’ll save gas and reduce tire wear, too.
Don’t idle. Avoid idling in drive-through lanes; park and walk in instead. Idling your vehicle wastes gas and increases pollution, and idling can damage your car more than shutting off and re-starting your engine.
Refuel at dusk. Postpone refueling your car until after 6 p.m. on Air Quality Action Days. This reduces the emissions during the peak daylight hours when ozone formation is most likely.
Don’t top off your tank. When refueling your vehicle, stop at the click to avoid spilling gas and polluting the air and surface water.
Reduce use of gasoline-powered lawn equipment. The small engines in lawn care equipment are major polluters. Use hand-powered or electric lawn care equipment whenever possible, and consider landscaping to reduce the amount of grass on your property. On Air Quality Action Days, wait until after 6 p.m. to use gas-powered lawn equipment.
Conserve electricity. In the summer, set your air conditioning at the highest comfortable temperature (try 78 degrees). During winter, try a setting of 68 to 70 degrees to reduce electricity use by your heat pump. Reduce wintertime particulate matter pollution from oil furnaces by keeping them well maintained. Use ceiling fans to increase both cooling and heating efficiency. Turn off appliances when not in use. Look for the Energy Star label when purchasing major appliances.
Try something different. Use water-based paints and cleaners instead of solvent-based products.
This article is from FOXYNC.com.

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What if you could lower your child’s risk of an asthma attack with a single text message?
It sounds too good to be true, but according to a recent study by the Georgia Institute of Technology, pediatric patients who were asked about their symptoms and provided with tips for managing their asthma demonstrated better pulmonary function and greater knowledge of their condition than those who didn’t.
In the study, researchers randomly assigned 30 asthmatic children between the ages of 10 and 17 into one of three groups—a control group that did not receive texts, a group that received texts every other day, and a group that received daily texts. The text messages typically consisted of questions about their symptoms, as well as general information about asthma.
After four months, participants held follow-up meetings with their physicians. The researchers reported improved pulmonary function and medical awareness in the groups that regularly received text messages, when compared to those that didn’t.
In other words, cell phones just might be one of the strongest weapons in the fight against asthma.
Cell phone usage among tweens and teens has been rapidly increasing over the past several months. According to a report released by the Pew Research Center last March, more than half (53 percent) of children aged 12 to 17 have a cell phone. One quarter (23 percent) use a smartphone. And they check their phones constantly; the participants in the Georgia Tech study responded to text messages 87 percent of the time, typically within 22 minutes.
It seems it makes sense, then, to send daily asthma reminders. Teens can check on their condition just as easily as they can their Facebook or Twitter accounts (and considering the millennial obsession with social media, that’s pretty often). Best of all, parents can check in with their child whenever and wherever.
Is your teen headed out on a date on a muggy July night? A simple reminder telling him to check his peak flow meter will ensure some peace of mind. Concerned your middle-schooler might forget to clean her nebulizer mask while she’s at sleep away camp? You can put her in the know in a matter of seconds.
Asthma prevention is a tricky, life-long process that often involves complex treatment. Nebulizers can be confusing, and it’s important that your loved ones be up to speed on their proper usage so they can work effectively. Lucky for parents, a text a day can keep the asthma away.

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