All About Black Health
Selected Quote: "We
are highly committed to reducing the disparities that exist among
African Americans, but we realize we cannot do it alone,"said
Kevin Fenton, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the CDC's National Center for
HIV, STD, and TB Prevention at a meeting of more than 100
African-American leaders held in Atlanta on March 7-8 2007 in Atlanta.
Mini Poll as of 8/16/06:
"Today, AIDS in
America is a Black disease," said Phill Wilson, executive director of
the Black AIDS Institute, at the 16th International AIDS conference held
in Toronto, Canada. Do you agree with that? To vote clickHere.
For All
About Black Health 'Calendar of Events',
Click
Here
Prostate cancer is the
leading cancer diagnosed among men in the United States. However, racial/ethnic
variations in the SEER data are striking: the
incidence rate among black men (180.6 per100,000)
is more than seven times that among Koreans (24.2). Indeed, blacks in the U.S.
have the highest rates of this cancer in the world. Although the incidence among
whites is quite high, it is distinctly lower than among blacks. Asian and
native American men have the lowest rates. The very low rate in Korean men
probably reflects the fact that most of the Koreans in the SEER areas are recent
immigrants from Asia, where rates are lower than in the United States.
Age-specific incidence
rates show dramatic increases between age categories. The remarkably sharp
increase in incidence with age is a hallmark of this cancer. Sixty percent of
all newly diagnosed prostate cancer cases and almost 80% of all deaths occur in
men 70 years of age and older. Mortality rates for prostate cancer are much
lower than the incidence rates, because survival for men with this cancer is
generally quite high.
Prostate cancer incidence
has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Most of this increase has been
attributed to the greater use of screening modalities, and especially the
widespread introduction of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. The causes
of prostate cancer are not known. Men with a family history of prostate cancer
are at increased risk, but whether this is genetic or due to shared
environmental influences, or both, is not known. It is thought that whatever the
causal factors are, they act by altering the balance of male hormones in the
body. Some research has suggested that diets high in fat and red meats increase
risk, while a high intake of fruits and vegetables may offer some protection.
There is current interest in the possibility that the low risk of prostate
cancer in certain Asian populations may result from their high intake of soy
products.
Source: Miller BA,
Kolonel LN, Bernstein L, Young, Jr. JL, Swanson GM, West D, Key CR, Liff JM,
Glover CS, Alexander GA, et al. (eds). Racial/Ethnic Patterns of Cancer in the
United States 1988-1992, National Cancer Institute. NIH Pub. No. 96-4104.
Bethesda, MD, 1996.
Graphs showing
incidence and mortality for specific racial and ethnic groups including
information that may not be discussed in the text above, is available at
the NCI's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) website at:
http://seer.cancer.gov/
Ed. Note: The highlight in yellow was done by Allaboutblackhealth.
Even though some health professionals like to write or repeat that
"men do not die of prostate cancer but die with prostate
cancer", we feel the price been paid at this time by African
Americans is too heavy to make that concept ours.
Click here to learn about the latest test capable of detecting
prostate cancer in Blacks.
Eat fatty fish to cut prostate cancer risk -study
Eating fatty fish like salmon, herring or mackerel could significantly reduce the risk of prostate cancer, a survey published in the Lancet medical journal on June 1,
2000.
Finnish researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, showed that men who ate no fish during
a 30 year period were two to three times more likely to get prostate cancer than those who ate fish regularly.
Fish high in fatty acids called omega-3 are particularly effective, the scientists said.
Six thousand three hundred Swedish men between 1967 and 1997 were
surveyed. During that period there were 466 diagnoses of prostate cancer of which 340 were fatal.
"The men who ate no fish had a two-fold to three-fold higher risk of prostate cancer than those who ate moderate or high amounts,"
the Lancet article said.
Fatty acids had previously been found to be effective in inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer cells, but earlier surveys and experiments had been smaller than the Swedish study, its authors said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Swedish men, accounting for 27 percent of all male cancer cases.
If you have a web page and can write a classified ad, you stand to
create massive traffic to your own site by joining
