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The numbers tell the story: African-American residents of the region die four years earlier than other Blacks in the county, and African-Americans die a decade sooner than all county residents. Although there has been no official study on the rise in deaths among Blacks, doctors point to the fact that adequate health care access is limited for many in the region. The apathy toward professional health treatment is linked to the high level of residents who are uninsured, which numbered 87,000 by last count.

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“It’s hard to see doctors, period,” said 56-year old Vicki Harris to the Times. Harris was injured in a drive-by shooting in the ’80s while living in Los Angeles. She contracted Hepatitis C via a blood transfusion and is suffering with other ailments. Her struggles indicate that practitioners in the region aren’t friendly to her plight. “No one really wants to take your plan,” she said.

Because of the high rate of uninsured residents seeking care, the Antelope Valley Community Clinic has been overwhelmed by the demand. The facility said that they expect 70,000 patients this year, up 22,000 from 2010.

Also impacting the region is a lack of specialists who treat a wider range of ailments beyond the scope of general practice doctors. Then there is the lack of reliable public transportation that has Black residents stranded at home and unable to afford expensive taxi cab fare to shuttle themselves to doctor visits.

In the city of Lancaster, Mayor R. Rex Parris alleges that Los Angeles County officials have been urging Section 8 voucher holders to move to the troubled region without warning them about the area’s challenging health care issues.

“They are sending poor people [here] to die,” Parris has said. “No one who is suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease would voluntarily move to the Antelope Valley if they knew they would die many years earlier as a result.”

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Lead researcher Kim E. Creek, Ph.D., a professor at the University of South Carolina, and other colleagues conducted the Carolina Women’s Care Study to better gather information on HPV exposure and the effects of the virus in female students at the university. The team began the study in 2004 and followed the women throughout their college years. Of the women researched and considered high risk candidates for HPV, 326 White women and 113 Black women provided Pap test results every six months. Although exposure to the condition was about the same, Creek’s team discovered alarming findings among Black women.

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They were 1.5 times more likely to test positive for high-risk HPV results. Fifty-six percent of African-American women were shown to be infected two years after the initial infection compared to 24 percent of European-American women. African-American women were 1.7 times more likely to have an abnormal Pap test as well. Ahead of Creek and her team presenting their findings this last Sunday at the American Association for Cancer Research conference in Chicago, she offered a bold statement:

“Most women infected with high-risk HPV clear the infection within nine to 18 months,” said Creek. “However, high-risk HPV can persist in some women who are much more likely to have abnormal Pap tests and to develop cervical cancer. We propose that an increase in high-risk HPV persistence in African-American women may provide a biological basis for the higher incidence of cervical cancer found in African-American women.”

If the study results are indeed confirmed by further research, this may inspire a call for more young African-American girls to take the controversial HPV vaccine. As of now, the drugs Gardasil and Cervarix are the only two on the market. Doctors recommend girls begin taking the drugs at age 11.

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That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top 10 sources of sodium. Salty snacks actually came in at the bottom of the list compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn – which we think of as the saltiest foods in our diet – are only No. 10,” said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

Breads and rolls aren’t really saltier than many of the other foods, but people tend to eat a lot of them, said Mary Cogswell, a CDC senior scientist who co-authored the report.

Salt is the main source of sodium for most people, and sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Health officials say most Americans get too much salt, mostly from processed and restaurant foods – not added from the salt shaker.

Experts have known that the sodium in breads and certain other foods can add up, but even CDC officials were amazed that just 10 foods are responsible for 44 percent of the sodium consumed.

“It’s possible to eat a whole bunch of sodium without it seeming salty,” noted John Hayes, an assistant professor of food science at Penn State, who was not involved in the report.

According to the CDC, breads and rolls account for about 7 percent of the salt that the average American eats in a day. Next on the list: cold cuts and cured meats; pizza; fresh and processed poultry; soups; fast-food hamburgers and sandwiches and cheese.

Rounding out the list – and accounting for about 3 percent each – are spaghetti and other pasta dishes; meatloaf and other meat dishes and snacks like potato chips and pretzels.

Dietary guidelines recommend no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, equal to about a teaspoon of salt. Certain people, such as those with high blood pressure, should eat even less. But average sodium consumption in the U.S. is around 3,300 milligrams, the CDC study found. Only 1 in 10 Americans meet the teaspoon guideline.

The amount of sodium in food types can vary. For example, a slice of white bread can have between 80 and 230 milligrams of sodium. A cup of canned chicken noodle soup has between 100 and 940 milligrams and 3 ounces of luncheon meat has between 450 and 1,050 milligrams. A small 1 ounce bag of potato chips ranges from 50 to 200 milligrams.

The new CDC report is based on surveys of more than 7,200 people in 2007 and 2008, including nearly 3,000 children. Participants were surveyed twice, each time answering detailed questions about what they had eaten over the previous day. Researchers then broke down what they ate into categories, and assigned sodium amounts.

Salt reduction has become a recent focus of public health campaigns, and some major food makers have taken steps or announced plans to gradually reduce sodium in their products.

CDC officials – who have long encouraged people to eat more fruits and vegetables – stopped short of advising people to lay off the bread. But they are encouraging consumers to read labels and, for example, buy brands of bread that have lower sodium.

“People can choose how much salt to add to their food at the table. They can’t take it out once it’s there,” Frieden said.

There’s another way to consume less sodium. “Eat smaller portions,” Hayes said.

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That advice from a leading doctors’ group on Thursday addresses one of the most pressing, least discussed issues facing survivors of heart attacks and other heart patients.

In its first science-based recommendations on the subject, the American Heart Association says having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease.

Surprisingly, despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease.

Many heart patients don’t think twice about climbing stairs, yet many worry that sexual activity will cause another heart attack, or even sudden death, said Dr. Glenn Levine, lead author of a report detailing the recommendations and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The report says sex is something doctors should bring up with all heart patients. Yet few do because they’re uncomfortable talking about it or they lack information, Levine said. The new guidance is designed to fill that gap.

Heart patients should get a doctor’s OK before engaging in sexual activity. Many may be advised first to do cardiac rehab – exercise while being monitored for heart symptoms, to improve heart strength and increase physical fitness. But the heart association says most eventually will be cleared to resume sexual activity.

The doctors’ group offers advice for heart patients based on scientific research involving sometimes provocative sex-related topics:

-Who’s most at risk for sudden death related to sex? Married men having affairs, often with younger women in unfamiliar settings. Those circumstances can add to stress that may increase the risks, evidence from a handful of studies suggests.

-Sex may be OK as soon as one week after a relatively mild heart attack, if patients can walk up a few flights of stairs without discomfort.

-Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction are generally safe for men with stable heart disease.

“The risk of having a heart attack during sexual activity is two to three times higher than when not having sexual activity. However, this increased risk of heart attack during sexual activity represents only a very small part of a person’s overall risk of having a heart attack, and sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks,” Levine said.

Among heart attack survivors, average risks for another heart attack or sudden death are about 10 in 1 million per hour of sexual activity; having sex increases that to about 20 to 30 in 1 million per hour, the new report says. People without heart disease face lower overall risks for a heart attack, but similar risks for a sex-related attack.

The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.

Dr. Keith Churchwell, chief medical officer of Vanderbilt University’s Heart and Vascular Institute, said the guidance is important for patients, and that questions about sex are the most common ones he hears from heart patients.

Ohio State University heart specialist Martha Gulati praised the recommendations for emphasizing that sexual counseling is important not just for patients but also their partners, who she says are often just as nervous about resuming sexual activity.

Day-care operator Tammy Collins of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, one of Gulati’s patients, says the advice is reassuring.

She had a heart attack last year on Sept. 11, during a trip to Cincinnati to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

Collins’ mother died of a heart attack at the same age, on her 51st birthday. With high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Collins knew she was at risk. She developed symptoms a few hours after having sex. She dismissed it at first, until she felt a sharp pain in her upper back and had trouble breathing. She was rushed to the hospital and doctors used stents to open blocked arteries.

Collins said she wasn’t embarrassed to ask Gulati about sex, who told her it was unlikely that her night of romance had caused the heart attack. After several weeks of cardiac rehab, she was cleared to resume sexual activity – advice that surprised her friends. But Collins said the exercise sessions have made her feel fitter than ever.

“A heart attack does not have to be the end of living,” Collins said.

Chicago cardiologist Dan Fintel, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University, said he routinely gives heart patients a sex talk on their last day in the hospital, knowing that it’s likely on their minds.

“Resuming sexual activity is safe and emotionally part of the healing process, with a few caveats,” he tells patients.

Those caveats elicit nervous chuckles when he explains that includes no philandering, given evidence about that causing extra stress.

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Numerous studies since 1999 have found that an underactive thyroid can raise a woman’s risk of miscarriage, premature birth, or a lower IQ for her baby – even if it’s so mildly sluggish that she feels no symptoms.

The problem: While serious cases are treated with a hormone pill, so far there’s little evidence that treating the milder cases makes a difference. So guidelines about who should be tested vary widely.

Now a peek at prenatal testing from one of the country’s largest medical labs suggests that nearly a quarter of pregnant women are getting the simple thyroid blood test regardless of whether they have symptoms.

Researchers at Quest Diagnostics examined records for half a million pregnant women. Of those who got tested, a higher-than-expected number – 15 percent – had an underactive thyroid. That’s five-fold higher than some previous estimates, partly because the way in which the condition is diagnosed has changed recently, says the study published by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The vast majority of those women were in the gray zone, with milder cases where no one knows for sure if a diagnosis helps or wastes money on testing and thyroid medication.

The finding adds pressure for science to settle this long-running controversy.

“We still don’t have perfect answers,” says Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, a well-known endocrinologist at Boston Medical Center, where a recent survey found widespread prenatal thyroid testing. But, “if it’s my patient in my office, or it’s me or my family member, I’m going to treat every time.”

Obstetricians seem more wary.

“There are studies on both sides of the fence,” says Dr. Dena Goffman of New York’s Montefiore Medical Center, which tests only women at high risk. “If you don’t know what to do with the results, you probably shouldn’t order the test,” she said.

The unassuming thyroid – a small bow tie-shaped gland nestled in the front of the neck – plays a big role in good health for everyone. It produces hormones that regulate metabolism and can affect almost every type of tissue in the body. About 20 million Americans are estimated to have a malfunctioning thyroid that, if serious enough, can contribute to heart disease, bone-thinning osteoporosis and infertility.

An overactive thyroid, called hyperthyroidism, speeds up bodily functions, causing such symptoms as weight loss, nervousness, anxiety and increased heart rate and vision problems.

Much more common is an underactive thyroid, called hypothyroidism. It slows body functions, causing such problems as fatigue, weight gain, depression, constipation and dry skin. It even can contribute to high cholesterol, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Thyroid problems increase with age, but they affect far more women than men – and pregnancy puts extra stress on the gland.

Having enough thyroid hormones is important for fetal brain development, especially during the first trimester, when the fetus depends solely on the mother for them. The hormones also play a role in avoiding miscarriage or premature birth.

Mothers also may harbor immune system cells called antibodies that subtly attack the gland and likewise are linked to miscarriage and prematurity. Italian researchers found that treating those women lowered their risk of encountering this problem.

There is broad agreement that women with overt hypothyroidism – a seriously underactive gland – should be treated, most likely given a once-a-day hormone pill long known to be safe in pregnancy. But it takes blood testing to diagnose overt disease because even those women don’t always report the vague symptoms.

Those $25 blood tests are sure to uncover women with mild hypothyroidism, too, the people in the so-called gray zone. Some research has raised questions about whether mild cases really pose a pregnancy risk, and preliminary results from a large British study recently found no overall IQ benefit to the resulting children if their mothers had been treated.

But the damage might already have been done by the time treatment began late in the first trimester, notes Boston’s Pearce. In the U.S., doctors are anxiously awaiting a similar National Institutes of Health study; results aren’t expected until 2015.

What’s the advice until then? The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends testing only pregnant women who have thyroid symptoms, have had previous thyroid problems, or have similar autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes – those considered at risk for overt disease.

The American Thyroid Association goes further. Last summer it advised also testing all pregnant women age 30 and older, and those with enlarged thyroids, previous pregnancy problems or those who are obese, says Pearce, who co-authored the guidelines.

Most guidelines cite the lack of evidence for treating mild cases. The thyroid association does urge treatment if those women harbor the worrisome antibodies.

A final tip: Pregnant women should check that their prenatal vitamins contain iodine, important for proper thyroid function, Pearce says. Not all do. Most Americans get enough iodine from dairy products, bread, seafood and iodized table salt. But women need extra during pregnancy.

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TMZ reports:

Heavy D died from a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis … and a long flight back to L.A. from a Michael Jackson memorial concert may have been a contributing factor. A pulmonary embolism is a blockage of one or more arteries in the lungs — most often caused by blood clots which travel into the lungs from other parts of the body. In Heavy’s case, the clot was formed in his legs. Officials from the L.A. County Coroner’s Office say Heavy also suffered from heart disease, which could have been a contributing factor in his death.

The truth is, deep leg vein thrombosis can happen to anyone who sits too long. If he was on a long plane ride, it’s easy to see how it happened. A friend of mine who is a journalist was recently diagnosed with the same issue from writing at his desk for extended hours. I write from a large exercise ball as much as I can to cut my chances of suffering the same fate.

If you listen to Hip-Hop and assess what people inside the rap community are eating, you get a lot of food that sounds good, but is not good for you. In the early days of Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, they rapped about 40 ounces, White Castle, and frank and beans.  Fast forward a bit and Ludacris puts out albums with titles like “Chicken and Beer.” Ice Cube, Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, Diddy, and a lot of other rappers pushed various alcohol brands from St. Ides to Ciroc. We also cannot forget that Busta Rhymes almost single-handedly rebuilt the cognac industry in France with one rap song. It is hard to deny that hip-hop living can be hard on rappers’ bodies.

And if we look beyond Heavy D, we can see that hip-hop has had some seriously close calls. Nate Dogg and Patrice O’Neal died of strokes at a very young ages. Rick Ross, who was recently in the hospital due to seizures, is clearly obese and in need of a lifestyle change. In addition we saw pioneer rapper Erik Sermon from EPMD suffer a heart attack. People forget that Latino rapper Big Pun passed away from complications due to his unhealthy eating habits. It is hard to deny that folks from the hip-hop generation are in a state of emergency in regards to their health.

If we think realistically about how a diet of the above will affect you over the long term, we see why so many rappers are getting sick and dying. It is a very sad but harsh reality. At the same time, no one can deny how various pockets of hip-hop promoted good living over the years. KRS One, Public Enemy, Kam, and Monie Luv all made songs that promoted good diets. A lot of early rap promoted the dietary regimen of the Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. They spoke to the importance of eating more vegetables, less alcohol, and pork, but over the years, a lot of the healthy related raps were pushed to the back of the bus.

I wanted to get some clarity on the hip-hop and health, so I called Dr. Peter Goldman, a doctor to many of the top MMA fighters and coaches you see in the Ultimate Fighting Championships including BJ Penn and Jake Shields. Dr. Goldman is also from the hip-hop generation and was raised in Brooklyn. I asked him what he thought about how so many adults from that generation got to this state.

First of all, we have to consider how these habits and choices get formed. Some of the main sources of influence on the Hip-Hop generation are their parents, society in general, and Hip-Hop artists and their lyrics. The experiences with their parents in regards to how their parents demonstrate they should eat and live will obviously vary. Society in general sends many mixed messages on these topics. For the most part, with some exceptions, Hip-Hop lyrics do not encourage a particularly healthy lifestyle or healthy eating habits. So the result for the most part are listeners whose main sources of influence do not indicate that it is even desirable to be healthy and eat right, let alone tell them how to do it.

For those of us in their 30s and 40s, the time is now. But how do we begin?

By understanding that there are many components to being healthy. For example, eating right, exercising right, resting right, keeping the body balanced with some type of body work like chiropractic or massage, and of course addressing the mental and Spiritual components of health. In regards to diet a good start is including a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet, drinking plenty of healthy water, avoiding deep fried foods and artificial sweeteners and coloring. As far as exercise goes, it can be yoga, martial arts, walking, swimming, etc, just try to move your body every day. As for rest, make sure to sleep enough, and also make sure to rest the body and the mind when necessary.

Another big part of the equation is what concepts about themselves, their body, and health in general they hold in their subconscious mind. These concepts are mostly implanted there from birth to about 7 years of age and tend to manifest in one’s life in all regards including their health.

Recently, though, some rappers have made many strides to change. 50 Cent has always made health a priority. Fat Joe cut weight after Pun passed away. David Banner went from looking like one of the Fat Boys to looking like a UFC fighter. Even the Fat Boys Kool Rock Ski and Prince Markie Dee both lost weight after the Human Beat Box passed from a heart attack.  Not long ago Diddy ran a marathon for charity. Rapper Rakaa Iriscience from Dilated Peoples has been practicing Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Rapper Tajai from Hieroglypics posts about great veggie dishes and restaurants on his Facebook page. Stic Man from Dead Prez dropped a mixtape dedicated exclusively to healthy living. From front to back it discusses the proper diet, mind state and diet tips people need to live better. He even has a Facebook page dedicated to it called “RBG Fit Club.”

Rapper T-KASH is currently preparing to participate in the Oakland Running Marathon in March for charity 2012 (he completed a half marathon last year). The political rapper who recently toured Europe with Paris lost almost 100 pounds over the last two and a half years. When asked how the weight loss has changed him he said:

You don’t anticipate any health related issues as much. You are aware that you are susceptible to getting any type of disease eventually. But to know that I’ve decelerated that, is calming. When I was big, I always worried.’ What if I get this? What if I get that?’ Alot of that has gone away.

Let us hope it goes away for all of us, one day at a time. Stay healthy y’all.

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As ubiquitous as champagne and confetti on New Year’s Eve, black-eyed peas are a staple in African-American homes come January 1.

Like its soul-food kin, hoppin’ John, as the peas are called when cooked with rice, is rooted in slave culture and has been eaten throughout the South for good luck on New Year’s Day (alongside collard greens, which are said to bring money, and cornbread for good health).

According to Andrew F. Smith’s “Oxford Companion To American Food And Drink,” the dish rose to prominence in South Carolina’s low country, where rice-growing slaves from West Africa prepared it in dishes based on those they made in their homeland. And though it started out as a tradition among slaves, its inclusion in an 1847 cookbook called “The Carolina Housewife” by Sarah Rutledge signaled its acceptance in upper-class kitchens as well.

For recipes to unlock the keys to prosperity and health in the New Year, click here!

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A government advisory panel on Tuesday decided that the vaccine should also be given to boys, in part to help prevent the cancer-causing virus through sex.

Public health officials have tried since 2006 to get parents to have their daughters vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes most of the cervical cancer in women.

They have had limited success, hitting a number of hurdles. Some parents distrust the safety of vaccines, especially newer products. Others don’t want to think about their daughters having sex one day, or worry that the vaccine essentially promotes promiscuous behavior.

Tuesday’s vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ was the first to strongly recommend routine vaccination for boys since the vaccine was first approved for them two years ago. Officials acknowledged the low rate in girls encouraged them to take a new, hard look.

Experts say a key benefit of routinely vaccinating boys could be preventing the spread of the virus to others through sex — making up somewhat for the disappointing vaccination rate in girls. But the recommendation is being framed as an important new measure against cancer in males.

“Today is another milestone in the nation’s battle against cancer,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administrator who oversees the agency’s immunization programs.

Federal health officials usually adopt the panel’s recommendations and ask doctors and patients to follow them.

The vaccine has been advised for girls since 2006. Just 49 percent of adolescent girls have gotten at least the first of the three HPV shots. Only a third had gotten all three doses by last year.

“Pretty terrible,” Schuchat said.

Schuchat attributed the low rates for girls to confusion or misunderstanding by parents that they can wait until their daughter becomes sexually active. It works best if the shots are given before a girl or boy begins having sex.

Some conservatives argue the vaccine could promote promiscuous behavior. It has come up in the GOP presidential campaign. Texas Gov. Rick Perry came under attack for a 2007 executive order requiring adolescent girls to get the vaccine (with an opt-out clause). When conservative lawmakers rebelled, he backed down.

An estimated 75 to 80 percent of men and women are infected with HPV during their life, but most don’t develop symptoms or get sick, according to the CDC. Some infections lead to genital warts, cervical cancer and other cancers, including of the head and neck.

The HPV vaccine is approved for use in males and females ages 9 to 26; it is usually given to 11- and 12-year olds when they get other vaccines. The committee also recommended that males 13 to 21 years get vaccinated.

Tuesday’s vote follows recent studies that show the vaccine prevents anal cancer in males, and may work against a type of throat cancer. A study that focused on gay men found it to be 75 percent effective against anal cancer.

While anal cancer has been increasing, it’s still fairly rare. Only about 7,000 U.S. cases in men each year are tied to the strains targeted in the HPV vaccine. In contrast, about 15,000 vaccine-preventable cervical cancers in women occur annually.

Preventing a cancer that’s primarily associated with gay men may not be much of a selling point, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a family practice doctor in Washington, D.C. and an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Some parents may say “‘Why are you vaccinating my son against anal cancer? He’s not gay! He’s not ever going to be gay!’ I can see that will come up,” said Mishori, who supports the panel’s recommendation.

Schuchat indicated the CDC is ready for that kind of argument: “There’s no data suggesting that offering a vaccine against HPV will change people’s subsequent sexual behavior,” she said.

So far, the threat of genital warts hasn’t been persuasive: Some data suggest that less than 1.5 percent of adolescent males have gotten the vaccine over the past two years.

Meanwhile, some feel it’s unlikely that most parents will agree to get their sons vaccinated primarily to protect girls. A survey of 600 pediatricians last year found that nearly 70 percent of doctors thought families would deem vaccination of their boys as unnecessary.

Experts at the committee meeting noted an earlier analysis that showed vaccinating boys would not be cost-effective if the female vaccination were high.

“If you do reach high coverage of females, will you stop vaccinating males?” asked Dr. David Salisbury, director immunization for the United Kingdom’s Department of Health.

There are two vaccines against HPV, but Tuesday’s vote applies only to Merck & Co.’s Gardasil, which costs $130 a dose. The other vaccine wasn’t tested for males.

The committee’s recommendation — and the greater insurance coverage of the vaccine that is expected to follow — will make it easier for more boys to get the shots, said Dr. Mark Feinberg, chief public health and science officer for Merck Vaccines.

Merck officials bristled at the idea that males would see the vaccine as mainly meant for gay men, noting that HPV-caused anal cancers can occur in heterosexual men.

Maura Robbins of Chicago said she’s likely to have her 12-year-old son, Cole, vaccinated against HPV — but probably not until he’s a little older. “I would just like to see some long-term testing and long-term results,” she said.

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Two years ago, it said mammograms to check for breast cancer are only needed every other year starting at age 50, although the American Cancer Society still advises annual tests starting at age 40. Earlier this week, a large study found more false alarms for women getting mammograms every year instead of every other year.

“The more tests that you do, the more likely you are to be faced with a false-positive test” that leads to unnecessary biopsies and possible harm, said Dr. Michael LeFevre, one of the task force leaders and a professor of family and community medicine at the University of Missouri. “We see an emerging consensus that annual Pap tests are not required for us to see the benefits that we have seen” from screening, he said.

Those benefits are substantial. Cervical cancer has declined dramatically in the United States, from nearly 15 cases for every 100,000 women in 1975 to nearly 7 per 100,000 in 2008. About 12,200 new cases and 4,210 deaths from the disease occurred last year, most of them in women who have never been screened or not in the past five years.

The cancer society and other groups say using Pap smears together with tests for HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, could improve screening. But the task force concluded the evidence is insufficient “to assess the balance of benefits and harms” of that.

Instead, more lives probably could be saved by reaching women who are not being adequately screened now, the task force says.

And despite what many people suspect, cost has nothing to do with the task force’s stance, its leaders said.

“We don’t look at cost at all. We really are most concerned about harms,” said Dr. Evelyn Whitlock of Kaiser Permanente Northwest’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., who led an evidence review for the task force.

Here are some questions and answers about the cervical cancer guidelines.

Q. At what ages should screening start and end?

A. The task force recommends against screening women under 21 or older than 65. Very few cervical cancer cases occur in women under 21, so the old advice to start screening three years after the age of first intercourse has been changed. HPV tests are only approved for women after age 30 because transient infections that don’t pose a cancer risk are more common at younger ages.

“We should not be screening teenagers. It’s not helping, it’s not finding any more cancers and it’s creating way too many harms for them,” said Debbie Saslow, the cancer society’s director of breast and gynecologic cancer.

Q. Should anyone else not be screened?

A. Women who have had their cervix and uterus removed should not be tested, but check with your doctor – not all hysterectomies are complete; some leave the cervix.

Q. What does screening cost?

A. Paps cost $15 to $60; HPV tests run $50 to $100.

Q. Will insurance pay for HPV tests since the government panel doesn’t endorse them?

A. Probably. They are included in preventive services that other federal advisers say should be covered under the Affordable Care Act, and the government has continued to pay for mammograms for women who want them even if it is sooner or more often than the task force recommends.

Q. What if I’ve had the HPV vaccine?

A. Doctors don’t know how the vaccine will affect HPV test results or how long the vaccine lasts, so women should still be screened for cervical cancer if they are within the recommended screening ages.

Q. How can I comment on the guidelines?

A. The web site below for the task force tells how. Comments are accepted for a month before guidance is adopted.

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The panel’s guidelines had long advised men over 75 to forgo the tests and the new recommendation extends that do-not-screen advice to healthy men of all ages.

The recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, being made public on Friday, will not come as a surprise to cancer specialists.

Yet, most men over 50 have had at least one PSA blood test, the assumption being that finding cancer early is always a good thing.

Not so, said Dr. Virginia Moyer of the Baylor College of Medicine, who heads the task force.

“We have put a huge amount of time, effort and energy into PSA screening and that time, effort and energy, that passion, should be going into finding a better test instead of using a test that doesn’t work,” Moyer told The Associated Press late Thursday.

Too much PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, in the blood only sometimes signals prostate cancer is brewing. It also can mean a benign enlarged prostate or an infection. Worse, screening often detects small tumors that will prove too slow-growing to be deadly. And there’s no sure way to tell in advance who needs aggressive therapy.

The task force analyzed all the previous research on this subject, including five major studies, to evaluate whether routine screening reduces deaths from prostate cancer. The conclusion: There’s little if any mortality benefit.

But there is harm from routine screening: impotence, incontinence, infections, even death that can come from the biopsies, surgery and radiation, Moyer said.

One study estimated 2 of every 5 men whose prostate cancer was caught through a PSA test had tumors too slow-growing to ever be a threat.

Yet Moyer said 30 percent of men who are treated for PSA-discovered prostate cancer suffer significant side effects, sometimes death, from the resulting treatment.

About a third of men ages 40 to 60 have brewing prostate cancer but “the huge majority of them will never know it in their lifetime if they are not screened,” she added.

The task force previously had considered the evidence for or against PSA screening inconclusive. The new recommendation says not to routinely screen. That recommendation is a draft that is open for public comment beginning next week.

“We have been long concerned, and it has been apparent for some years, that some supporters of prostate cancer screening have overstated, exaggerated and in some cases misled men about the evidence supporting its effectiveness,” said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society in a statement. “We need balanced, truthful information to be made widely available to physicians and patients when making important health decisions.”

The society had not seen the new recommendation yet, but has long advised men to consider the pros and cons of PSA screening before deciding on their own.

Moyer said the recommendation only means that doctors shouldn’t bring up the option for healthy men. If a man asks for a PSA test and wants it after being informed of the evidence, he should receive it, she said. Likewise, it’s appropriate to use PSA tests to examine a man with possible prostate symptoms.

Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, who is Black herself, knows the issues Black women have when it comes to “sweating out” their hair.

“Oftentimes you get women saying, ‘I can’t exercise today because I don’t want to sweat my hair back or get my hair wet,’ Benjamin said.

Dr. Rebecca Alleyne, a breast cancer surgeon in Los Angeles, said she ran, cycled or swam six days a week until a year and a half ago, when she stopped wearing hair extensions, which required little maintenance, and began pressing her hair.

“I noticed I would stop for two or three days when I got it pressed,” she said. “The barrier for me was the $60 and two-and-a-half-hour investment in a hair salon that kept me wanting to preserve my hairstyle.”

Read more at the New York Times.

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Darby, with the help of his mom Dorette Darby, created ”My Own Food” interactive cooking for children of all ages with adult supervision.

With meals like heavenly banana wrap and island cucumber punch, Darby designed meals that kids can tackle on their own.

The Grio reports:

This young chef’s cookbook, with help from Mom, has been in the works for three years promoting healthy meals for kids designed by a 10-year old.

Read more at The Grio:

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According to the study, Black physicians are embarrassed to address the social stigmas that Blacks bring into the office of the disease, so they often  refrain from addressing the realities and the impact that HIV and AIDS is having on the community.

The survey found that three of the top five barriers to routine testing cited by African-American physicians related to social stigma. Specifically, physicians are concerned that patients may perceive the recommendation to test as accusatory or judgmental (57 percent); would not want to be identified as HIV positive and would worry about people finding out (48 percent); and would be offended due to the stigma associated with HIV (43 percent).

Read more at BET.com

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C.J. Sentor teaches fitness classes, has a fitness DVD,  and does his own routines 3 times a week.

VIDEO:

“I love working out so much because I get to stay fit and healthy, Senter said. “And live a long healthy life.”

Read more at TheGrio.com
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Nearly 4.5 million Americans are eating less-healthy foods due to a diminished spending power, and desire to conserve money. For African-Americans, who suffer from the greatest economic strains, the numbers could be catastrophic.

The Huffington Post Reports:

While the factors that contribute to a change in diet are complex, many experts see a direct economic force at play in the recent shift away from fruits and vegetables and the apparent embrace of sugary and fast foods. Paychecks are scarce, while the costs of gasoline have been rising. Housing costs tend to be fixed, but food tends to be treated as discretionary, allowing people to save money by substituting cheap calories for more expensive yet healthier goods like fruits and vegetables.

The economic anxieties of today also appear to be contributing to the trend, by inviting Americans to take refuge in a traditional source of comfort — fattening, salty and sweet foods.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington D.C. interviewed 100 acute stroke patients or those who accompanied them to the hospital and found that 75 percent said they called someone else first instead of 911 when they realized something was wrong.   Even more reported they waited a significant amount of time before seeking any medical attention.

The Washington Post reports:

Although stroke patients were asked whether concerns about the District’s emergency medical response system was a reason for not calling 911, [Amie Hsia, medical director at the Washington Hospital Stroke Center], said it was not a primary reason people gave. That concern surfaced in later interviews with focus groups, where respondents also spoke of fear that ambulances might not find their way to a particular neighborhood quickly enough, embarrassment if an ambulance showed up and concern about the cost of emergency services, she said.

Related News: Young Stroke Survivors Warn They Can Happen To Anyone

According to the American Stroke Association someone in the United States is having a stroke every 40 seconds.  It is the third-leading cause of death in the United States.

In the United States, the rate of first strokes in African Americans is almost double that of whites, researchers say, because of higher incidences of risk factors such as high blood pressure and obesity. And strokes tend to occur earlier in life for African Americans. Studies have also shown that fewer blacks than whites receive a treatment that breaks up the blood clot in the brain causing the stroke, in part because blacks are not getting to the hospital in time.

The Congressional Black Caucus and American Heart Association announced on Thursday they would be joining together in a campaign to inspire people to make healthier choices and to educate people on best practices if they or someone they know is having a stroke.

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Many H.I.V.  patients suffer kidney damage, either from medications or the virus itself. With a growing need for organ donors, some doctors hope that the infected patients can serve as donors for other infected patients, as well as non-infected patients potentially in the future.

“We would like to see as many safe transplants occurring as possible, and there’s no reason why H.I.V.-positive recipients shouldn’t get transplants and that H.I.V.-positive donors can’t be used,” said Dr. Matthew Kuehnert, who directs the C.D.C.’s Office of Blood, Organ and Other Tissue Safety.

Source

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The Milwaukee Journal-Times reports:

“Those guys saved my life,” Hughes said. “They paid the whole medical bill. It was like $70,000 or more. It wasn’t cheap.

“It showed you what classy people they are. They didn’t want me talking about it; they didn’t want the recognition because they simply felt it was the right thing to do.”

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Known as Benlysta, the injectable drug is designed to relieve flare-ups and pain caused by lupus, a little-understood and potentially fatal ailment in which the body attacks its own tissue and organs.

Biotech drugmaker Human Genome Sciences Inc. spent 15 years developing Benlysta and will co-market it with GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

The companies estimate there are at least 200,000 lupus patients in the U.S. who could benefit from the drug.

But experts stress that Benlysta is not a miracle drug: It only worked in 35 percent of North American patients tested and was not effective for patients with the deadliest form of the disease. Additionally, it did not show positive results in African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by lupus.

FDA said in its news release it would require the drug developers to conduct another study exclusively in African Americans.

Dr. Betty Diamond, who has studied lupus for 30 years, said Benlysta should provide encouragement to researchers and drug developers.

“It will send out the message that it’s possible to conduct a successful clinical trial in lupus and that’s tremendously important to keep the pharmaceutical industry interested in this disease,” said Diamond, a researcher at the Feinstein Institute in New York.

Janice Fitzgibbon of McLean, Virginia has been taking Benlysta for two years as part of the drug’s clinical trial program.

“It’s given me my life back,” she said, after being so crushed by pain that she couldn’t take her dog for a walk or drive her children to school.

“It’s a bittersweet thing for me because I have friends with lupus for whom this drug won’t work,” said Fitzgibbon, who is 54. “There’s no one-size-fits-all for lupus and I’m just extremely fortunate that my lupus is mild and is helped by Benlysta.”

FDA approved the drug for systemic lupus erythematosus, the most common form of the disease. Ten-year survival for patients diagnosed with the illness is more than 85 percent, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Lupus patients have long struggled to draw attention to their disease, which affects women nine times more than men. African Americans are three times more likely to have the disease.

“I don’t think there’s a conspiracy here, but it just hasn’t gotten a lot of funding and it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from the media,” said Dr. Abby Abelson, chair of the Department of Rheumatologic and Immunologic Disease at the Cleveland Clinic.

Lupus causes fibrous tissue and inflammation of internal organs, skin rashes and joint pain. Most of Benlysta’s benefit came from relieving muscle inflammation versus organ problems, as measured on a comprehensive checklist of lupus symptoms.

The disease occurs when the body’s protector cells, known as antibodies, stop differentiating between foreign invaders, like bacteria, and healthy cells. The cause of this malfunction is not understood.

Currently most patients treat their disease with a variety of drugs that help ease inflammation, including painkillers, steroids and antimalarial drugs – which were first approved for lupus in the 1950s. Many patients say the side effects of those treatments are nearly as uncomfortable as the disease itself. Steroids can cause bone fractures, weight gain and infection.

Wednesday’s approval completes a remarkable turnaround for Rockville, Md.,-based Human Genome Sciences which has been developing Benlysta since 1996 and has no other products on the market. The company originally tested Benlysta, known generically as belimumab, as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

When a mid-stage trial in lupus patients failed to meet researchers’ goals in 2006, many analysts wrote the drug off and downgraded the company’s stock. But when scientists reanalyzed the data they found that the drug helped block the antibodies that cause lupus symptoms in a subset of patients.

Analysts estimate the drug could reach annual sales exceeding $3 billion within five years.

Human Genome Sciences’ stock has ballooned in the last two years – from 70 cents to roughly $25 per share – as the company’s prospects have improved. Trading in its shares was halted pending the release of the FDA news after the market’s close Wednesday. GlaxoSmithKline shares rose $1.36, or 3.5 percent, to $39.94 in extended trading.

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Looking ahead to what she will do in the second year of “Let’s Move,” Mrs. Obama said: “We also want to focus on the important touch points in a child’s life. And what we’re learning now is that early intervention is key. Breastfeeding. Kids who are breastfed longer have a lower tendency to be obese.

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“You’re never really cancer free and I should have known that,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “My cancer right now is at an absolute minimum.”

The 63-year-old Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2008. He spoke at Science Park High School, after the initial screening of his new full-length documentary, “On the Shoulders of Giants.”

“It’s not life-threatening,” he said, “at this point in my life.”

Abdul-Jabbar said when he was first diagnosed with leukemia, he feared the worst.

“I thought I might be dead in a few months,” he said. “I had a good friend (actor Bruno Kirby) who was diagnosed with leukemia and was dead within 30 days. I really had no understanding of what I was dealing with.”

With the help of a medication called Gleevec, CML can be monitored better, and the chances for recovery are now improved. What’s more, Abdul-Jabbar became a spokesman for Novartis, the company that produces Gleevec.

“Medical science has made great strides over the last 20 years,” he said. “People in my position are able to live their lives to the fullest. I’m very grateful for that. I’m lucky that they caught it in enough time, and I’ve responded well to the medication. If not for the success that medicine has made, I might be part of a much different story right now.”

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Didier Jambart alleges he also became a “compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the Internet and cross-dressing.” Jambart’s attorney said these antics led his client to be raped.

Jambart stopped taking the drug in 2005, but by that time he had already been demoted from his job and was suffering psychological trauma. He is seeking $610,000 in damages from Glaxo, and his neurologist, whom he says did not accurately warn him about the drug’s potential side effects.

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Aretha Franklin is denying reports that she suffered from pancreatic cancer. Access Hollywood interveiwed her about her health:

“I really just began to not feel good and I said, ‘Oh, no this is it, I can’t do any more concerts till I know what the problem is,’” she added.

The “Freedom” chanteuse shot down rampart reports that she had been stricken with pancreatic cancer, saying, “I don’t know where ‘pancreatic cancer’ came from.

“I was sitting there reading the newspaper and it was saying someone in my family said that,” Aretha continued. “No one in my family ever said that to anybody.”

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The legendary singer also vowed to reschedule the concert dates she missed.

Franklin’s voice was strong and steady during the interview, and she hinted she was dating someone.

With the exception of written statements and print interviews with Jet magazine, this was one of the first times the 68-year-old Franklin has been heard since the Dec. 2 surgery.

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Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that he’s visited with the legendary singer four or five times recently, including a few days ago, and that Franklin’s “spirits are high, and her faith is strong.”

“She’s conscious, communicating and taking daily walks up and down the hall,” said Jackson, who accompanied Franklin on one of those walks during his most recent visit.

Franklin announced last week that she had undergone a surgical procedure, but neither she nor her publicist have said what is ailing the 68-year-old Queen of Soul.

Jackson wouldn’t either, other than to say his friend of more than 40 years is responding well to the surgery.

“She has amazing strength — body, religion and faith,” Jackson said. “It’s what he keeps her going.”

Last month, Franklin announced she was canceling all concert dates and personal appearances through May on the orders of her doctors.

It’s been a tough few months for Franklin, whose hits include “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools” and her signature song, “Respect.”

Her son, Eddie, was beaten by three men at a Detroit gas station in September. And a month before that, Franklin broke ribs in a fall, causing her to miss two free concerts in New York.

Franklin is one of the most honored singers in American history, having won numerous Grammys, the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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NEW YORK – Aretha Franklin says her surgery was “highly successful” and thanks well-wishers for their prayers. In a statement released Thursday to The Associated Press, the Queen of Soul says: “God is still in control. I had superb doctors and nurses whom were blessed by all the prayers of the city and the country.”

Franklin did not say what she was being treated for Thursday.

Last month, the 68-year-old singer announced she was canceling all concert dates and personal appearances through May on the orders of her doctors.

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Whether smokers addicted to nicotine will see them as a reason to quit remains a question.

The images are part of a new campaign announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to reduce tobacco use, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths per year.

“Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This is a very, very serious public health issue, with very, very serious medical consequences,” such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and lung diseases.

The share of Americans who smoke has fallen dramatically since 1970, from nearly 40 percent to about 20 percent, but the rate has stalled since about 2004. About 46 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes.

In the same period, the average cost per pack has gone from 38 cents to $5.33. Much of those increases are from state and federal taxes.

The new prevention plan is part of a law passed in June 2009 that gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco, including setting guidelines for marketing and labeling, banning certain products and limiting nicotine. The law doesn’t let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco.

RICHMOND, Va. – Corpses, cancer patients and diseased lungs are among the images the federal government plans for larger, graphic warning labels that would take up half of each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.

Whether smokers addicted to nicotine will see them as a reason to quit remains a question.

The images are part of a new campaign announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to reduce tobacco use, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths per year.

“Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This is a very, very serious public health issue, with very, very serious medical consequences,” such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and lung diseases.

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