Cancer Deaths Decline, especially among African Americans
With the economy so bad, people losing their homes and jobs, and so many living on the edge it helps to hear good news for a change.
I recently read and article that showed death due to cancer was declining especially among African Americans. This in itself is great news. But, we need to read the entire article to note that there is still a disparity among the races. African Americans are still more likely to die from cancer.
View some of the highlights below:
Since 1998, the American Cancer Society, along with the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries have provided an Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. This year’s report has just been released in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
For the first time in the history of these reports, the researchers have found that both the incidence rates and deaths from cancer in both men and women are declining.
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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) — Black Americans’ cancer death rates continue to decline, an American Cancer Society report released Wednesday.
There will be about 150,090 new cases of invasive cancer diagnosed in U.S. blacks in 2009 and about 63,360 cancer deaths, according to the biannual ACS report. The most commonly diagnosed cancers will be prostate (34 percent), lung (16 percent), and colon and rectum (10 percent).
Among black women, the most common cancers will be breast (25 percent), lung (12 percent), and colon and rectum (11 percent), the report finds.
The National Cancer Institute has more on cancer health disparities.
“African-Americans have the highest death rates of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S. for most cancers. As this report points out, the causes of these disparities are complex and likely reflect social and economic disparities, not biologic differences,” Dr Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a news release.
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Among the other findings in the report:
- Blacks with higher levels of education have lower cancer death rates than those with less education. However, at each level of education, blacks still have higher cancer death rates than whites.
- Almost half of blacks reported no leisure-time physical activity in 2006, compared to 35 percent of whites. Physical activity has been associated with a reduced risk of breast, colon, prostate and endometrium cancers.
- In 2005-06, 76 percent of black adults were overweight and 46 percent were obese, compared to 66 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of whites.
- Only half of black women aged 40 and older reported having a mammogram within the past year, compared with 53 percent of white women. In 2005, 40 percent of blacks and 50 percent of whites reported having a recent colorectal cancer screening test.
- Black boys and girls have lower smoking rates than any other racial/ethnic groups.
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We can change these negative statistics. Cancer is preventable. We need to get the word out.
A Healthy Diet of fresh fruit, raw vegetables, whole grains, nuts and beans helps tremendously to reduce risks of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other major diseases. Limit the amount of meat, fish and poultry we eat to no more than 10% of your total calories. You get all the protien you need without excess fat.
Drink plenty of water, fresh juice and natural tea. Avoid soda and commerially produced drinks, they are full of refined sugars and additives that increase your risks for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases. These drinks also increase obesity which is another major factor of major diseases. Fresh juice and natural tea like Oolong Tea and Green Tea are full of antioxidants to fight disease and build your immune system.
It is so interesting that everything we need for optimal health God provided. Somehow we have determined the man made is better. He have bought into advertising of a capitalistic society where money is the only motivation. Eat Healthy. Fresh fruit, raw vegetables, whole grains, nuts and beans; God made them and said they were good.
We need to exercise regularly and get plenty of sleep and fresh air. Our exercise regiment should include both aerobic and strenth training.
Finally, use the health system. No matter how painful, we all need regular physical exams.
There is nothing as important as your health. Are you willing to save yourself? Are you willing to save your family?
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