Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Friday, October 2, 2015
Change Your Eating Habits, Change Your Life
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
The Quality Of Health Care You Receive Likely Depends On Your Skin Color
Unequal health care continues to be a serious problem for black Americans.
More than a decade after the Institute of Medicine issued a landmark report showing that minority patients were less likely to receive the same quality health care as white patients, racial and ethnic disparities continue to plague the U.S. health care system. That report, which was published in 2002, indicated that even when both groups had similar insurance or the same ability to pay for care, black patients received inferior treatment to white patients.
This still hold true, according to our investigation into dozens of studies about black health across multiple disciplines. More than any other single group, the black community is most likely to have negative health outcomes, including higher rates of breast and prostate cancer, high incidence of HIV/AIDS, higher rates of infant morality -- along with high rates of childhood obesity and asthma in young adults.
According to Karen M. Winkfield, a radiation oncologist and assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School, racial disparities in health care and health outcomes exist across almost every single disease or condition.
"In terms of the disparities, it’s universal," she said. "There are disparities across almost every single disease entity."
Behind The Numbers.
Socioeconomic inequality accounts for much of the difference. Twenty-seven percent of people living in poverty are black, and studies consistently show that the least educated and lowest income people are the most likely to be unhealthy.
"Financial status directly impacts health status," Winkfield said. "They are inseparable. That’s the problem in this country -- people make the assumption that people can just do. Well, you can’t. If you don’t have the resources, you’re not going to be able to care for your health in the appropriate way."
This is a Catch-22: People need education and information in order to make these good personal health decisions, two resources that economically disadvantaged individuals are less likely to have. Education is also a factor in making health changes on a community level. It takes education and political connections to effectively lobby local grocery stores to carry fresh fruits and vegetables, or fight to prohibit corner stores from selling tobacco to neighborhood youth.
But inequality alone doesn't account for the difference. Policy can address differences in access and income, but research finds that unconscious racism is far more insidious and harder to legislate against. Fully two-thirds of medical professionals display unconscious racial bias. And research has also shown that racial bias can lead to reduced trust between patients and their doctors, and causes black patients feel less respected by their doctors.
"Layered on top of those social class inequities are racial inequities," said Dr. M. Norman Oliver, director of the University of Virginia Center on Health Disparities. "While a poor, working-class white or a poor Appalachian white might have the same poor health standards as folks in inner-city Baltimore, the population attributable risk of being in that poor status is much higher in the African-American community. That’s a result of that racist discrimination being layered on top of the class inequities that we have."
Closing the gap.
Though the numbers are grim, there are efforts to close these gaps. One initiative outlined in a 2014 New England Journal of Medicine study proved that requiring hospitals to report quality of care reduced racial disparities in health outcomes between 2005 and 2010 in 17 categories, including heart attacks, heart failures and pneumonia. And the Affordable Care Act has started to narrow the health insurance disparity, with the number of uninsured blacks expected to drop from 20 percent to 11 percent by 2016.
These improvements, however, have limits. For individuals who didn't benefit from the ACA's expansion of Medicaid, and had to buy health insurance through the health care exchanges, there may be no increase in health care access at all, said Oliver. "It’s a little problematic in that most folks can’t afford anything other than the high-deductible plans," he said. "Even though they have insurance, it doesn’t necessarily increase their access, because they can’t pay for things out of pocket."
One way to combat discrepancies is to clearly identify them. In that spirit, we picked five disease areas representing both chronic and infectious conditions -- childhood obesity, infant mortality, childhood asthma, breast cancer and HIV infections -- to illuminate how much worse outcomes are for African-Americans in nearly every category of health:
Black Women Are More Likely To Die Of Breast Cancer.
The research: As The Huffington Post reported in October, despite advances in medicine over the past three decades, breast cancer survival among black women has not improved at the same rate as it has among white women. Today, black women have a 79 percent five-year survival rate, while white women have a 92 percent five-year survival rate. These numbers are particularly striking because white women have higher rates of breast cancer to begin with.
Why is this happening? Socioeconomic factors including income, education, and occupation can mean fewer resources, less access to quality health care and worse health outcomes. In addition, life-saving clinical trials may be financially impossible for working-class women who can't afford to miss a shift. As it stands, only five percent of clinical trial participants are black. "The advancements in screening tools and treatment which occurred in the 1990s were largely available to white women, while black women, who were more likely to be uninsured, did not gain equal access to these life-saving technologies," Bijou Hunt, an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, told Reuters last year.
HIV Diagnoses Are Nine Times Higher In the Black Community.
The research: Of the 46,381 people who received an HIV-positive diagnosis in 2010, approximately half were African-American or Hispanic. People of color were nine times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white individuals, and black women were 20 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white women.
Why is this happening? Poverty underscores HIV transmissions, since limited access to health care can mean individuals are less likely to be educated about or practice safe sex, less likely to get tested for HIV, and may have less access to antiretroviral therapies than their higher-income counterparts. In addition, the disproportionally high incarceration rate among black men poses an infection risk for the black community. One in seven people with HIV has passed through a correctional facility, where recent reports show that rape and sex between inmates is commonplace.
Real and perceived stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive people of color decreases both the likelihood that individuals will seek treatment and the likelihood that HIV-positive people will be honest with their potential sexual partners about their diagnosis.
The Infant Mortality Rate Is Twice As High For Black Children.
The research: Black children are two times more likely to die during their first year of life than white children. In Washington D.C., which, like many other big cities, has a high percentage of African-American and low-income residents, black infants are almost four times more likely to die before their first birthday.
Why is this happening? Devastatingly high infant mortality rates among people of color make it especially clear that not all groups have benefited equally from 20th-century medical advances. Factors such as poor maternal health, inadequate prenatal care, smoking during pregnancy, lack of education, infection, stress and racism may all contribute to infant mortality.
"We know that one of the leading causes of infant mortality among African-Americans is preterm birth," Michael Lu, an obstetrician-gynecologist and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles told McClatchy DC in 2007 when studies suggested stress may play a role in the long-stubborn mortality discrepancy. "We know that stress is an important risk factor, and it initiates the release of stress hormones leading to preterm birth and increase susceptibility for infection. The question is, do we think racial discrimination and racism is stressful?"
The answer to Lu's question is "yes." While existing peer-reviewed research on the psychological effects of racism on people of color is limited, psychologist Monnica Williams, a professor and director of the University of Louisville’s Center for Mental Health Disparities, believes there is a link between racism and post-traumatic stress disorder. "It’s a natural byproduct of the types of experiences that minorities have to deal with on a regular basis," she said in a New York Times interview in June. "My training and study has been on post-traumatic stress disorder for a long time, and the two look very much alike."
Black Children Are More Likely To Be Obese.
The research: Compared to white children, black children and adolescents are more likely to suffer from obesity, defined as having body-mass indices greater than 30. This is especially troubling because of the myriad long-term health problems associated with obesity, including coronary heart disease, high-blood pressure, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Why is this happening? Obesity is a tricky and somewhat circular issue. One possible contributing factor to childhood obesity among black children that they are less likely to be breastfed than white children. According to the World Health Organization, formula-fed infants tend to consume higher protein levels, which can lead to weight gain and obesity development later in life. Breast milk also contains important hormones that may contribute to healthy weight balance. Breastfeeding is not, however, always an issue of personal choice. That black women generally tend to make less money and be less well-educated are barriers "because you can't access jobs where you might have a maternity leave, or can negotiate a private space to pump, or feel you are able to nurse at work," Monique Sims-Harper, director of A More Excellent Way Health Improvement Organization and a spokeswoman for the California Breastfeeding Coalition, told the BBC.
Additional factors that can trigger obesity include the lack of access to health foods in low-income communities, limited opportunities for physical activity (people living in high-crime communities may be less likely to let their kids play outside, for example), and a lack of education about nutrition. Bringing the issue full circle, a higher weight is associated with lower earned income, at least among women.
Black Children Are More Likely To Have Asthma.
The research: Black and Puerto Rican children are more likely to have asthma than any other groups. Moreover, black individuals of any age are three times more likely than white individuals to die from asthma.
Why is this happening? Living in poor-quality low-income housing, which could include lead paint and mold, is a likely asthma trigger, a condition that is not limited to city dwellers. African-American children living in Inner-city and rural low-income areas were found to have equally high asthma levels in a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
While there may be a genetic component to asthma, poverty seems to be the overwhelming risk factor. As of 2013, almost a third of people living at the poverty level were black. Poverty can also contribute to other health behaviors that can cause or worsen asthma. According to NPR, "Second-hand smoke is also a risk for children, and poor people tend to smoke more. And people in poverty, no matter where they live, also experience day-to-day stress."
Over the next few months, The Huffington Post will shine a light on racial disparities in health outcomes and care as part of our series, Black Health Matters.
Sugary Drinks May Cause 180,000 Deaths Worldwide
Sugary drinks linked to 25,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. By contributing to obesity and, through that, to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks appears to claim the lives of about 25,000 American adults yearly and is linked worldwide to the deaths of 180,000 each year, new research says.
Removing chocolate milk from schools caused plain milk to be wasted.
Low- and middle-income countries are bearing the brunt of the death toll attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks and fruit drinks, according to an assessment published Monday in the American Heart Assn.'s journal, Circulation. Each year, more than 3 in 4 of the world's deaths attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages occur in those poor and developing countries.
In Mexico -- a country with one of the world's highest per-capita consumption of sweetened drinks -- about 24,000 adults' deaths in 2010 were attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened drinks. That translated into the highest death rate of the world's 20 most populous nations: 405 deaths per million adults in one year.
The United States ranked second. In 2010, there were 125 deaths per million adults, or about 25,000 deaths total.
To generate those estimates of sugary beverages' health toll, researchers combed through national dietary surveys that captured patterns of beverage consumption in 51 countries from 1980 to 2010. The researchers then mined resource databases to discern the availability and consumption of sugar in 187 countries.
They tallied consumption of drinks, homemade and mass-produced, that deliver 50 calories or more per 8-ounce serving, and did not count 100% fruit juices.
Americans consume too much added sugars, study says, and it's killing us.
They drew from a growing mountain of studies to estimate the contribution of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption to obesity, and of obesity to such diseases as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancers of the breast, colon, esophagus, gall bladder, kidney, pancreas and ovaries. And finally, they calculated how many deaths from those diseases might have gotten a push from consumption of those sugary drinks.
The result is the first-ever global report on the effect of sugar-sweetened beverages on death rates.
As incomes grow in many developing nations, some are experiencing spurts in obesity that mirror, in compressed form, Americans' four-decade run-up in weight. Many researchers attribute those patterns, at least in part, to increases in their populations' consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which add calories without improving nutrition.
Fake sweeteners may mess with the way our bodies metabolize sugar.
"This is not complicated," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of Tuft University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and a senior author of the new research. "There are no health benefits from sugar-sweetened beverages, and the potential impact of reducing consumption is saving tens of thousands of deaths each year."
The comprehensive report on sugary beverages and death does not reflect the effect of such consumption on the health of children. It does find chronic disease attributed to sugar-sweetened beverages more common in younger adults than in their elders. That fact is likely to have a major effect on future economies because it imperils the long-term productivity of a key group of workers.
If these young people continue to guzzle sugar-sweetened beverages at their current rate, said study coauthor Gitanjali Singh, the consequences could be dire. Compounded by the effects of aging, this generation's high rates of sugary drink consumption may push its rates of death and disability from heart disease and diabetes even higher than those seen in the current study, said Singh, also of Friedman School.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
13 Proven Benefits of Coffee
13 Proven Health Benefits of Coffee (No. 1 is My Favorite) By Kris Gunnars | 886,790 views Coffee is actually very healthy. It is loaded with antioxidants and beneficial nutrients that can improve your health. The studies show that coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of several serious diseases. Here are the top 13 evidence-based health benefits of coffee, that have been confirmed in actual human studies. 1. Coffee Can Improve Energy Levels and Make You Smarter. Coffee can help people feel less tired and increase energy levels (1, 2). This is because it contains a stimulant called caffeine, which is actually the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world (3). After you drink coffee, the caffeine is absorbed into the bloodstream. From there, it travels into the brain (4). In the brain, caffeine blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter called Adenosine. When that happens, the amount of other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine actually increases, leading to enhanced firing of neurons (5, 6). Many controlled trials in humans show that coffee improves various aspects of brain function. This includes memory, mood, vigilance, energy levels, reaction times and general cognitive function (7, 8, 9).  Bottom Line: Caffeine blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, which leads to a stimulant effect. This improves energy levels, mood and various aspects of brain function. 2. Coffee Can Help You Burn Fat. Did you know that caffeine is found in almost every commercial fat burning supplement? There’s a good reason for that… caffeine is one of the very few natural substances that have actually been proven to aid fat burning. Several studies show that caffeine can boost the metabolic rate by 3-11% (10, 11). Other studies show that caffeine can specifically increase the burning of fat, by as much as 10% in obese individuals and 29% in lean people (12). However, it is possible that these effects will diminish in long-term coffee drinkers. Bottom Line: Several studies show that caffeine can increase fat burning in the body and boost the metabolic rate. 3. The Caffeine Can Drastically Improve. Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, causing it to send signals to the fat cells to break down body fat (13, 14). But caffeine also increases Epinephrine (Adrenaline) levels in the blood (15, 16). This is the “fight or flight” hormone, designed to make our bodies ready for intense physical exertion. Caffeine makes the fat cells break down body fat, releasing them into the blood as free fatty acids and making them available as fuel (17, 18). Given these effects, it is not surprising to see that caffeine can improve physical performance by 11-12%, on average (29, 20). Because of this, it makes sense to have a strong cup of coffee about a half an hour before you head to the gym. Bottom Line: Caffeine can increase adrenaline levels and release fatty acids from the fat tissues. It also leads to significant improvements in physical performance. 4. There Are Essential Nutrients in Coffee. Coffee is more than just black water. Many of the nutrients in the coffee beans do make it into the final drink.  A single cup of coffee contains (21): Riboflavin (Vitamin B2): 11% of the RDA. Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5): 6% of the RDA. Manganese and Potassium: 3% of the RDA. Magnesium and Niacin (B3): 2% of the RDA.  Although this may not seem like a big deal, most people are drinking more than one cup per day. If you drink 3-4, then these amounts quickly add up. Bottom Line: Coffee contains several important nutrients, including Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, Manganese, Potassium, Magnesium and Niacin. 5. Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Type II Diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a gigantic health problem, currently afflicting about 300 million people worldwide. It is characterized by elevated blood sugars in the context of insulin resistance or an inability to secrete insulin. For some reason, coffee drinkers have a significantly reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The studies show that people who drink the most coffee have a 23-50% lower risk of getting this disease, one study showing a reduction as high as 67% (22, 23, 24, 25, 26). According to a massive review that looked at data from 18 studies with a total of 457,922 individuals, each daily cup of coffee was associated with a 7% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes (27). Bottom Line: Several observational studies show that coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of getting type II diabetes, a serious disease that currently afflicts about 300 million people worldwide. 6. Coffee May Protect You From Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia worldwide. This disease usually affects people over 65 years of age. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Alzheimer’s. However, there are several things you can do to prevent the disease from showing up in the first place. This includes the usual suspects like eating healthy and exercising, but drinking coffee may be incredibly effective as well. Several studies show that coffee drinkers have up to a 65% lower risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease (28, 29, 30). Bottom Line: Coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease, which is a leading cause of dementia worldwide. 7. Caffeine May Lower The Risk of Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, right after Alzheimer’s. It is caused by death of dopamine-generating neurons in the brain. Same as with Alzheimer’s, there is no known cure, which makes it that much more important to focus on prevention.  In studies, coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, with a reduction in risk ranging from 32-60% (31, 32, 33, 34). In this case, it appears to be the caffeine itself that is causing the effect. People who drink decaf don’t have a lower risk of Parkinson’s (35, 36). Bottom Line: Coffee drinkers have up to a 60% lower risk of getting Parkinson’s disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. 8. Coffee Appears to Have Protective Effects on The Liver. The liver is an amazing organ that carries out hundreds of important functions in the body. Several common diseases primarily affect the liver, including hepatitis, fatty liver disease and others. Many of these diseases can lead to a condition called cirrhosis, in which the liver has been largely replaced by scar tissue. It turns out that coffee may protect against cirrhosis. People who drink 4 or more cups per day have up to an 80% lower risk (37, 38, 39). Bottom Line: Coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of developing cirrhosis, which can be caused by several diseases that affect the liver. 9. Coffee Can Fight Depression and Make You Happier. Depression is a serious mental disorder that causes a significantly reduced quality of life. It is incredibly common and about 4.1% of people in the U.S. currently meet the criteria for clinical depression. In a Harvard study published in 2011, women who drank 4 or more cups per day had a 20% lower risk of becoming depressed (40). Another study with 208,424 individuals found that those who drank 4 or more cups per day were 53% less likely to commit suicide (41). Bottom Line: Coffee appears to lower the risk of developing depression and may dramatically reduce the risk of suicide. 10. Coffee Drinkers Have a Lower Risk of Some Types of Cancer. Cancer is one of the world’s leading causes of death and is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells in the body. Coffee appears to be protective against two types of cancer… liver cancer and colorectal cancer. Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, while colorectal cancer ranks fourth (42). Studies show that coffee drinkers have up to a 40% lower risk of liver cancer (43, 44). One study of 489,706 individuals found that those who drank 4-5 cups of coffee per day had a 15% lower risk of colorectal cancer (45). Bottom Line: Liver and colorectal cancer are the 3rd and 4th leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of both. 11. Coffee Does Not Cause Heart Disease and May Lower The Risk of Stroke. It is often claimed that caffeine can increase blood pressure. This is true, but the effect is small (3-4 mm/Hg) and usually goes away if you drink coffee regularly (46, 47). However, the effect may persist in some people, so keep that in mind if you have elevated blood pressure (48, 49). That being said, the studies do NOT support the myth that coffee raises the risk of heart disease (50, 51). In fact, there is some evidence that women who drink coffee have a reduced risk of heart disease (52). Some studies also show that coffee drinkers have a 20% lower risk of stroke (53, 54). Bottom Line: Coffee may cause mild increases in blood pressure, which usually diminish over time. Coffee drinkers do not have an increased risk of heart disease, but a slightly lower risk of stroke. 12. Coffee May Help You Live Longer. Given that coffee drinkers are less likely to get many diseases, it makes sense that coffee could help you live longer. There are actually several observational studies showing that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of death. In two very large studies, drinking coffee was associated with a 20% lower risk of death in men and a 26% lower risk of death in women, over a period of 18-24 years (55). This effect appears to be particularly strong in type II diabetics. In one study, diabetics who drank coffee had a 30% lower risk of death during a 20 year study period (56).  Bottom Line: Several studies show that coffee drinkers live longer and have a lower risk of premature death. 13. Coffee is The Biggest Source of Antioxidants in The Western Diet. For people who eat a standard Western diet, coffee may actually be the healthiest aspect of the diet. That’s because coffee contains a massive amount of antioxidants. In fact, studies show that most people get more antioxidants from coffee than both fruits and vegetables… combined (57, 58, 59). Coffee is one of the healthiest beverages on the planet. Period. Please go to wwamm.biz for more information about Healthy Habits Global Gourmet Coffee.





















