Black Women Remain At Highest Risk For Heart Disease P8

HealthyStartMarch 2013 Healthy Start is the publication of the Milwaukee Community Journal dedicated to Health and Wellness Free

Wisconson’s Largest BlacK Newspaper

Africans Americans accounted for 32

percent of new cases of Kidney failure...

Eat Right, YourWay, Every Day

Too many drug types are

compromising heart health:

doctors P4P2

National Kidney Disease Awareness Month P7

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HealthyStart 2013 March 2013

National Nutrition Month 2013 Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day

t’s March already! Happy New Year.

National Nutrition Month® is here!This month especially dedicated to nu-trition. A great opportunity for dieti-tians to educate their co-workers,friends/family and the public withcurrent nutrition topics. This year’sthe theme is: Eat Right, Your Way,Every Day

Build a Personalized Eating Plan!

The idea is reflective to the “Choosemy Plate®” theme. It is a easy con-cept and great way to incorporatehealthy eating into your lifestyle withminimal changes. I encourage you tocheck it out!

National Nutrition Month® is a nu-trition education and informationcampaign sponsored annually by the

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.The campaign is designed to focus at-tention on the importance of makinginformed food choices and developingsound eating and physical activityhabits. NNM also promotes the Acad-emy and its members to the publicand the media as the most valuableand credible source of timely, scientif-ically based food and nutrition infor-mation.

Build a Personalized Eating Plan!

We all have unique lifestyles, tradi-tions and health concerns. Not tomention tastes! So if you’re ready toeat right, don’t settle for a one-size-fits-all fad diet.

March is National NutritionMonth®, and this year’s “Eat Right,Your Way, Every Day” theme high-

lights that building a personal-ized eating plan is key toimproved health. Set yourselfup for success by working witha registered dietitian to build aneating plan tailored just for you.

Here is a quick guide to eat-ing right from the food and nu-trition experts at the Academyof Nutrition and Dietetics:

Personalize your eatingstyle: The easiest way to get thenutrients your body needs is toeat healthy foods you enjoy.Finding good-for-you foodsthat please your palette makeseating healthfully special andexciting.

Eat for your lifestyle: Ath-letic, vegetarian/vegan, corpo-rate and family lifestyles allhave special nutritional needs,but eating right can be easy andtasty if you pay attention tothose foods that best help getyou through the day.

Incorporate cultural andethnic traditions: Foods from

around the globe often incorporate anabundance of unique, flavorful andnourishing ingredients. Keep tradi-tions alive and bring the world to yourfamily’s table.

Keep health concerns in mind: Ahealthful eating plan can help preventand treat a variety of health concerns.With modification and moderation,you can enjoy your favorite foodswhile meeting your nutritional needsand health goals.

Make MyPlate your plate: Fill halfof your plate with your favorite fruitsand vegetables; keep protein portionslean and about three ounces; make atleast half of your grain choices wholegrains; and be sure to include low-fator fat-free dairy products like milk andyogurt.

Visit www.EatRight.org/NNM for avariety of helpful tips, games and edu-cation resources, all designed to

spread the message of good nutrition.

During January I taught the “ChooseMy Plate®” method to the CardiacRehab outpatient group. It was defi-nitely a great fun-filled topic andevent. Contact me if you would likedetails regarding how to use “ChooseMy Plate®”.

In 2012 I completed the ‘Menu Plan-ning’ continuing education certifica-tion program through the ADA toenhance menu planning skills. I en-courage you to ask any questions re-garding menu planning! Don’t forgetto check our my WIX site for addi-tional services that I provide!

Thanks for reading!

--By Sarah Lawson, RD Nationa Nutrition Month

I

Milwaukee Community Journal3612 North Martin Luther King Drive

Milwaukee WI. 53212

Patricia O'Flynn Pattillo

Publisher

Mikel Holt, Edition Co-ordinator and Marketing Sales

www.communityjournal.net

Administration Telephone

(414)-265-5300

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Advertising Email:

advertising@communityjournal.net

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Editorial Email: editorial@communityjournal.net

Bright Boateng Designer / Production

e are looking forsuccessful weight-loss stories to in-troduce in theMCJ MissionMakeover se-

ries...as we show self-empowerment as ahealthy lifestyles success program. If youhave candidates that might be interested inparticipating please share our communi-tyjournal.net web site. They can also enterthe contest by calling our offices (414-265-5300) or email us at: advertising@commu-nityjournal.net.

We have a phenomenal program plannedfor our five winners at the MCJ GalaBrunch on Sunday, August 4th, 2013 at theItalian Conference Center.

The top winners, determined by “Beforeand After” photos, as well as validatedweight-loss photos and journals; will betreated to expert consultants who will helpthem shop for their best look (coupons do-

nated by the Boston Store will augment a$500 apparel budget) and get hair-makeovers donated by local beauticiansand make-up consults on the day of theevent. They will strut their stuff during theBrunch. And our doctors will teach anddemonstrate how to change habits that sab-otage weight loss.They are healers who nowheal through teaching what, how, and whento eat healthy foods to reduce our maladieslike hypertension, diabetes, nephrosis,heart-failure, asthma and cancer.

Please poll your groups. See if there arecandidates from your organization. You be-come a cooperating partner and receivepromotion support advertising. And youmight just have one of the winners. Sothey win, the community wins and we all dobetter as we know better!

Let's build a healthier community together.We’re counting on you. Join us.

Do you have what it takes to be oneof our “Weight Loss Five?”

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'Simple 7' heart health tips

nly one in 1,000people is truly"heart healthy," ac-cording to doctorsexamining healthyliving guidelines.

The American Heart Association has is-sued a list of seven steps to follow tominimize the chances of suffering car-diovascular disease. Those who meet allthe criteria significantly cut their risk ofhaving a heart attack, experts say.

Life's Simple Seven are:

4 Not smoking;

4 Being physically active;

4Not being overweight;

4Maintaining healthy cholesterol lev-els;

4Keeping blood pressure down;

4Regulating blood sugar levels;

4And eating healthily.

Jean-Pierre Despres, scientific directorof the International Chair on Car-diometabolic Risk, an academic healthorganization, said the number of peoplewho met all seven criteria was minus-cule.

"If you look at those Simple Seven, andyou measure what percentage of differ-ent populations around the developedworld meet those criteria, it's only 0.1 percent. In terms of having an optimal riskof cardiovascular disease, only one in1,000 people is healthy," Despres said.

"If you only use the traditional risk fac-tors, like cholesterol and blood pressure,you would probably end up with 15 percent."

But when exercise, or the lack of it, anddiet were taken into consideration, thenumber who were really healthy was farsmaller.

"Exercise and nutrition are the two hard-est indicators of cardiovascular health tomeet," he said.

Far fewer people got the recommended150 minutes of weekly exercise thanclaimed to do so, Despres added.

Although 60 per cent tell interviewersthat they reach that target, when prop-erly assessed only a third do.

Despres also said cutting out hidden saltand sugar was difficult, meaning few eathealthily.

He claimed that the health benefit ofmeeting all seven steps was "amazing."

"Those who meet these criteria just don'thave heart attacks before 65," he said.

Two-thirds of adults in Britain are eitheroverweight or obese, making the U.K. thefattest nation in western Europe.

But Despres said Britons should "forgetabout weight" as an end in itself and in-stead concentrate on quitting smokingand getting active.

A report last fall indicates that almost athird of Canadians aged five to 17 areoverweight or obese, according to Statis-tics Canada.

"Being physically active is extremelybeneficial for your heart health," Despressaid.

Health Tip:Health Tip:The Diet That

Slashes Your HeartDisease Risk7

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The American Heart Association has issued a list of seven steps to follow to

minimize the chances of suffering cardiovascular disease.

Photograph by: Stuart Davis , Vancouver Sun

(continued from page 11)

our morning cups of coffee andgreen tea may do more than justgive you an extra kick of energy -–they may also lower your risk ofstroke.

A recent study conducted by Japan’s NationalCerebral and Cardiovascular Center found thatpeople who drink coffee and green tea daily havea lower risk of stroke than people who rarely con-sume these beverages. Previous research in thisarea has been largely limited or inconsistent, ac-cording to research published in Stroke: Journalof the American Heart Association.

The study followed 83,269 Japanese adults aged45 to 74 over the course of 13 years. Study partic-ipants who drank at least one cup of coffee perday had a 20 percent lower risk of stroke thanparticipants who rarely drank the beverage. Par-ticipants who drank two to three cups of green teaa day had a 14 percent lower risk of stroke, andparticipants who drank four or more cups ofgreen tea daily had a 20 percent lower risk ofstroke.

Although the study found that participants whoregularly consumed coffee and tea generally hadhealthier lifestyles than participants who did not,the results still stand, according to Dr. Ralph Sacco, the formerpresident of the American Heart Association.

“People who drank more coffee and tea were more athletic andhealthier, but researchers adjusted for that and still found thatcoffee and green tea lowered their risk of stroke. It is possible

that there is another healthy behavior specific to coffee or teadrinkers that also confers lower stroke risk, but we don’t knowabout it,” Sacco told Huff/Post50.

It is unclear why exactly coffee and green tea lower one’s riskof stroke.

“It is not clear if the main benefit derived from coffee and greentea is caffeine specifically … or another active ingredient in cof-fee or tea," Sacco said.

While coffee and green tea had a significant impact on one’srisk of stroke, the study found no connection between risk ofheart attack and consumption of these beverages. This con-trasts with other studies, which suggest that moderate coffeeconsumption reduces the risk of heart attack. Previous studieshave shown the benefits of green tea in connection to heart at-tack risk.

Sacco emphasized that while consuming green tea and coffeehas many benefits, people should not rely on these beveragesas their only protection against the risk of stroke.

“I think just drinking coffee or green tea is not enough for theaverage American to reduce the risk of stroke. It could be help-ful, but people should also … not smoke, be physically activeand keep a good diet,” Sacco said.

--huffingtonpost.com. By Rebecca Klein

ating a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oiland nuts could slash your risk of developingheart disease by 30 percent, according to anew study in the New England Journal ofMedicine.

Spanish researchers followed 7,400 55- to 80-year-old menand women who were at risk for heart disease. The subjectswere assigned to either a Mediterranean diet supplementedwith olive oil; a Mediterranean diet supplemented withwalnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds; or a diet heavy on itemslike pasta and dairy. The results: After 7 years, people onthe Mediterranean diets were 30 percent less likely to de-velop any cardiovascular problems compared to the othergroup.

Additionally, people who ate extra olive oil were 33 percentless likely to suffer a stroke, while those who loaded up onnuts had a 46 percent lower risk of stroke.

While other studies have looked at the Mediterraneandiet’s effect on people who already have heart disease, thisis the first major clinical trial to measure the diet’s preven-tative effect against heart disease. The researchers aren’tcertain why the link exists, but say it’s possible that thediet’s nutrient-rich foods help your body protect itself

against unsafe blood lipids, insulin sensitivity, and inflam-mation—all markers of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

If you want to go Mediterranean, here’s one way to super-charge the benefits of the diet: Use fresh olive oil. A Euro-pean study found that olive oil’s antioxidants can raiselevels of artery-cleaning HDL cholesterol. And the fresherthe oil, the more potent its antioxidants. Spanish re-searchers advise to seek out new-crop olive oil and use itwithin a year. Choose a dark glass bottle and store it wayfrom the stove, since light and heat can degrade quality.

by Maria Masters

Green Tea Benefits Now IncludeLowered Risk of Stroke, Study

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Nation NewsToo many drug types are

compromising heart health: doctors bout 80 million Americanssuffer from heart disease,the nation's No. 1 killer, andmost are on multiple drugs.

Some cardiologists thinkprescribing has gotten out of

hand.

The criticism was voiced by a number ofleading heart doctors who attended the an-nual scientific sessions of the American Col-lege of Cardiology, held on March 9-11 in SanFrancisco. They said eliminating certaindrugs could potentially improve care withoutcompromising treatment. Evidence is grow-ing that some medications are not effective.

Patients who need multiple daily doses of agiven drug often fail to take them, said Dr.Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at theCleveland Clinic and a past president of theACC. "There is also the question aboutwhether the benefits are additive."

Among the medications cardiologists are giv-ing a second look: AbbVie's Niaspan, or pre-scription niacin, which aims to raise goodcholesterol; so-called fenofibrate such as top-selling branded drug TriCor (also from Abb-Vie), which lowers blood fats calledtriglycerides; and beta-blockers, most ofwhich are inexpensive, older generics.

'EAGER TO ADD, RELUCTANT TO TAKEAWAY'

A person who has had a heart attack typicallyleaves the hospital on a beta-blocker to slowthe heart, an ACE inhibitor to reduce bloodpressure, clopidogrel and aspirin to thin theblood and prevent clots, and a statin to re-duce cholesterol, said Dr. Micah Eimer, a

cardiologist with Northwest-ern Medicine in suburbanChicago.

"That's a minimum of fivemedications, and each onehas a proven mortality bene-fit. It's practically malprac-tice if you don't prescribethose," Eimer said. "But wehave no data on when it's ad-vantageous to take (patients)off."

Many patients are on manymore drugs, according to re-search by Dr. HarlanKrumholz, a Yale Universityprofessor of cardiology andpublic health. Using Medicaredata, he found that heart failurepatients, those whose heartsare too weak to pump blood sufficiently, wereprescribed an average of 12 drugs; some wereon 30.

"We are eager to add medicines and reluctantto take them away," said Krumholz, whoheads the Yale-New Haven Hospital Centerfor Outcomes Research and Evaluation andis a frequent critic of how drugs are sold andused. "So people accrue medications overtime."

Many drugs are prescribed widely, eventhough evidence they actually work is weak,he said.

Unexpected serious side effects arose in ahuge study of a Merck & Co long-actingniacin drug aimed at raising good HDL cho-lesterol, according to data released at theconference on Saturday. The study enrolledmore than 25,000 people. Patients had sig-

nificantly more bleeding and a higher num-ber of infections than researchers had ex-pected. A Merck spokesman said there "wasnothing to add."

When it was announced that the drug,Tredaptive, had failed to prevent heart at-tacks, strokes and death in heart patientsalso taking drugs to lower bad LDL choles-terol, Merck said it would not seek U.S. ap-proval and would stop selling it in the dozensof other countries where it was already avail-able.

Fenofibrate, including AbbVie's TriCor, hasalso failed to show benefit in two separatestudies, Krumholz said. The $2 billion-a-yeardrug is used to lower low-density lipoprotein,or LDL, the unhealthy cholesterol, andtriglycerides and to raise high-densitylipoprotein, or HDL, the healthy cholesterol.

AbbVie's cardiovascular products "help pa-tients with abnormal cholesterol levels reachtheir cholesterol treatment goals," the com-pany said in an emailed statement. "Physi-cians need to consider the results of clinicaltrials, available treatment guidelines, andeach patient's cardiovascular andbenefit/risk profile to determine the bestpossible treatment regimen."

Other drug companies including Sanofi, Bris-tol-Myers Squibb Co and Pfizer declined tocomment.

BLOCK THAT BLOCKER?

Beta-blockers are absolutely necessary forsome patients, said Dr. Sripal Bangalore, acardiologist at New York University, but areprobably prescribed too widely and for toolong a period of time. Examining three dis-tinct patient groups from a data registry of44,000 patients, he said the drug did not re-duce the risk of heart attack, stroke or deathafter 3.5 years.

Yet the American Heart Association (AHA)and American College of Cardiology guide-lines recommend heart attack survivors takebeta-blockers for at least three years. Thoserecommendations, several doctors noted, arebased on data collected two decades ago. "Wedon't know if they are providing benefit forone year or three years," Bangalore said.

Today, blocked arteries are cleared rightaway with angioplasty, and the patient is typ-ically put on a statin to keep harmful choles-terol from building up in the artery walls. Forthose whose hearts are not badly damaged,beta-blockers do not help.

Reuters/Reuters - Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University

professor of cardiology and public health, is pictured in

an undated handout photo. REUTERS/Courtesy of Har-

lan Krumholz/Handout

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Health care law offers benefits forWisconsin residents

By E.J. MundellHealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) — In thesearch for better medicines to safely help heartpatients, clinical trials testing three new drugs ap-pear to offer some promise.

Two of the drugs, cangrelor and inclacumab,might improve outcomes for patients undergoingcardiac interven-tions such as angio-plasty or stenting,while a third drug,Inspra, seems tolower heart pa-tients’ odds fordeath and heartfailure following aheart attack.

All three trials werefunded by the re-spective drugs’makers, and allthree were pre-sented Sunday atthe annual meetingof the American College of Cardiology (ACC) inSan Francisco.

In the first trial, researchers compared an as-yetapproved blood thinner called cangrelor againstthe current standard medication, Plavix (clopido-grel), for patients who have recently had a stentimplanted in an artery to help improve blood flow.

According to the ACC, more than 600,000 coro-nary artery stent procedures are conducted in theUnited States each year, but doctors have longsought safer alternatives to Plavix to help preventclots. Plavix comes with one big drawback for pa-tients rushed to the hospital with suspected heartattack: It is taken in pill form, and its anti-clottingeffects (with accompanying bleeding risk) may notwear off for up to a week.

That means that pre-treating a new patient withPlavix can trigger long delays in needed heart sur-gery, as the patient waits for the bleeding risk tosubside.

Cangrelor may help get around that issue. Eventhough it is delivered intravenously and beginsacting quickly, its anti-clotting effects also fadequickly — within an hour — should any bleedingcomplications occur, the study authors said.

So, doctors might feel free to give heart patients

cangrelor upon admittance to the hospital andthen send them immediately for angioplasty — aminimally invasive procedure to reopen cloggedvessels — or stenting, if needed.

In the trial, which was funded by cangrelor’smaker, New Jersey-based The Medicines Com-pany, researchers compared short-term outcomesfor 11,000 patients who underwent stent place-ment at one of 153 centers around the world.

Some of the pa-tients got can-grelor, whileothers got Plavix.The study was alsopublished onlineSunday in TheNew EnglandJournal of Medi-cine.

The research teamreported that can-grelor reduced by22 percent theodds of a patientdying, having a

heart attack or having a clot develop in the stentedvessel within two days of the procedure, comparedto patients who took Plavix. Safety profiles weresimilar: Severe bleeding at 48 hours after thestenting procedure occurred in 0.16 percent ofthose on cangrelor and 0.11 percent of those givenPlavix.

Commenting at a press conference on Sunday, Dr.Cindy Grines, a cardiologist at Detroit MedicalCenter, said that if cangrelor receives U.S. Foodand Drug Administration approval it could have a“huge impact” for heart patients.

The new study “shows that we do not necessarilyhave to pre-treat these patients, but once they getto the lab we can give them a very rapidly actingmedication with rapid-onset action and rapid off-set,” she said.

There’s one caveat, however: cost. Lead researcherDr. Deepak Bhatta, chief of cardiology at Brighamand Women’s Hospital in Boston, told reportersthat cangrelor’s price has not yet been set, but itlikely will carry a much higher price tag thanPlavix. But, he believes the cost of the drug wouldbe offset by savings gained as patients avoidlengthy pre-surgery hospital stays, waiting for theeffects of Plavix to wear off.

Four more statesget federal nod for

health exchanges

aturday March 23, 2013marked the third anniversary ofthe Affordable Care Act. ForWisconsinites, that means a

health care system that is stronger than itwas three years ago and a future thatlooks even brighter.

Wisconsinites who have health insurancenow have more security thanks to newinsurance market reforms and consumerprotections put into place by the law.Preventive services such as mammo-grams and flu shots are newly availablefor free to 1.5 million people with privateinsurance plans.

More than 63,550 Wisconsin Medicarebeneficiaries with the highest prescrip-tion drug costs have saved an average of$731 on their medications. And Wiscon-sinites are now protected from some ofthe worst insurance industry abuses,such as lifetime coverage caps that couldcut off benefits when people need themmost.

The law also has begun to curb risinghealth costs across the system by crack-ing down on waste and fraud and creat-ing powerful incentives for hospitals tospend their resources more wisely. Thesereforms already have led to significantimprovements in health outcomes.

That includes the first drop in hospitalreadmissions for Medicare beneficiarieson record, which means when peoplewith Medicare go home from the hospi-tal, they are more likely to stay healthyand less likely to have to return for addi-tional care.

Just as important, this progress has con-tributed to the slowest sustained growthin health spending in 50 years. Nationalhealth care spending now has grown athistoric lows for three consecutive years -and Medicare and Medicaid spending isgrowing even slower. In 2012, Medicarespending per beneficiary rose by lessthan half of 1%, while Medicaid spendingactually dropped by nearly 2%.

The health care law is demonstrating theright way to deal with rising costs. In-stead of simply shifting the burden onto

seniors and the needy, it's bringing downcosts across the system by improvingcare coordination and cutting waste. Andit's holding insurance companies ac-countable by limiting how much of yourpremium they can spend on marketingand overhead. This protection alreadyhas produced $10.4 million in rebates for

residents of Wisconsin.

For many Wisconsinites, better coveragechoices are on the way, too. Starting Oct.1, a new health insurance marketplacewill open for enrollment in Wisconsin.The marketplace will give individuals,

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New Drugs Might GiveHeart Patients an Edge

Either states create their own exchanges, or the

federal government will create one for them.

WASHINGTON — Michigan, NewHampshire, West Virginia and Iowaare the final four states to receiveconditional federal approval to runstate partnership health insuranceexchanges under the 2010 healthcare law, the Depart-ment of Health andHuman Services an-nounced Thursday.

A partnership exchangeallows the states to takemore time before oper-ating the exchangesfully on their own.

As in previous an-nouncements, Healthand Human ServicesSecretary Kathleen Se-belius re-emphasizedone key message: "Wewill be ready in seven months whenconsumers will be able to use thenew marketplace to easily purchasequality, affordable health insuranceplans."

The announcement means 24 statesand the District of Columbia havesubmitted plans to operate or par-tially operate health exchanges.

The exchanges will be ready Oct. 1and neither congressional budgetsnor the mandatory spending cutsthat went into effect last week willchange that, said Gary Cohen, direc-tor of the Center for Consumer Infor-mation and Insurance Oversight.

"We will be opening all exchanges inall states," Cohen said.

States that have not created their

own exchanges will have those cre-ated by the federal government forthem, Cohen said, adding that offi-cials from those states said they willwork with HHS to to ensure that in-surers follow state and federal laws.

Those states' insurance commission-ers will operate as they have in thepast.

A health exchange is a website thatallows consumers to purchase healthinsurance by comparing prices andbenefits, just as they would throughan employer's insurance plan. Boththe federal government and thestates have come up with benefits theplans must offer, such as pediatric vi-sion care or mental health care.

The government plans to have theexchanges in place by October for en-rollment so coverage can begin inJanuary. That's when the law, alsoknown as the Affordable Care Act, re-quires most Americans to purchaseinsurance or face a fine.

--Kelly Kennedy, USA TODAY

The Affordable Care Act marked its third anniversary on Saturday,March 2013.

by Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of

Health and Human Services.

(continued on page 9)

Wisconsin health officials warn of'nightmare bacteria'

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ightmare bacteria" resist-ant to the strongest an-tibiotics are on the rise inthe United States andhave infected patients in

at least 17 Wisconsin hospitals and long-termrehabilitation facilities, state and federal offi-cials said Tuesday, March 6.

The bacteria kill up to half of all infected pa-tients.

"It's not often that our scientists come to meto say that we have a very serious problem,and we need to sound an alarm," said TomFrieden, director of the federal Centers forDisease Control and Prevention. "But that'sexactly what we're doing today."

Within the past decade, the bacteria, calledcarbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae orCRE, have become more drug-resistant, andtheir prevalence has increased more thanfourfold, Frieden told reporters during a tele-briefing.

Perhaps most worrisome: They can transfertheir antibiotic resistance to other bacteria, in-cluding E. coli -- the most common cause ofurinary tract infections.

CRE bacteria enter the bloodstream primarilythrough central lines -- tubes placed in a largevein in a patient's neck, chest or arm -- as wellas through catheters and ventilators.

Nearly 200 hospitals and long-term acute carefacilities around the country have encounteredthe superbug. The CDC tracked one type ofCRE from a single health care facility to healthcare facilities in at least 42 states, includingWisconsin. In some medical facilities, the bac-teria already pose a routine challenge, theCDC reportedTuesday.

"It seems to travel relatively easily," said NasiaSafdar, an infectious disease specialist at Uni-versity of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics andan associate professor at UW School of Medi-cine and Public Health.

One risk is patients who move from institutionto institution, such as from a nursing home toa hospital to a rehabilitation hospital.

In Wisconsin, 15 hospitals and two long-termacute care facilities have reported the bacteria,with 25 people infected, since Dec. 1, 2011,when the state began surveillance for CRE.

Five picked up the bacteria in a setting otherthan a hospital, according to the state Divisionof Public Health. How many people died from

the infection is unknown.

Wisconsin is among the first six states to re-quire facilities to report infections associatedwith the superbug, though the surveillance isstill new and many hospitals and long-termacute care facilities may not be aware of it,said Gwen Borlaug, coordinator of the state

program that monitors health care associatedinfections.

The state voluntarily decided to require re-porting after the Wisconsin State Laboratoryof Hygiene became aware that CRE was inWisconsin, and lab officials wanted to begindoing genetic testing on the bacteria, Borlaugsaid.

"We wanted to know where they were tostrategically place prevention measures," shesaid. "We're at a pretty low prevalence now,and we want to keep it that way."

Frieden of the CDC said doctors, nurses, hos-pital leaders and the public health communitymust work together to implement a "detectand protect" strategy to stop these infectionsfrom spreading.

He referred to CRE as "nightmare bacteria."

Milwaukee is one of four cities around thecountry piloting a regional collaboration forCRE surveillance and prevention through acontract with the National Association ofCounty and City Health Officials.

The city was chosen for the surveillance pilotbecause it already has a strong network that

links public health officials with all types ofhealth care facilities. The Milwaukee HealthDepartment is developing a tool kit to educatehealth care providers and patients and to im-prove detection of CRE.

"Many of my colleagues are unfamiliar withCRE," said Paul Biedrzycki, director of disease

control and envi-ronmental healthfor the MilwaukeeHealth Depart-ment. "This is anemerging infec-tion."In September, aworkshop on thesuperbug will beheld for hospitals,nursing homes,long-term acutecare providers,emergency medicalservice personneland others.

"We're working tostrengthen surveil-lance around CRE,"said GeoffreySwain, chief med-ical officer andmedical director for

the Milwaukee Health Department.

The risk of CRE infection is highest among pa-tients receiving complex or long-term care inhospitals, long-term acute care facilities andnursing homes.

Many hospitals have taken steps to reducetheir infection rates in recent years, spurredpartly by Medicare now requiring them topublicly disclose their infection rates andpartly by Medicare no longer paying hospitalsfor additional care totreat hospital-acquiredinfections.

The steps range fromstressing the impor-tance of staff washingtheir hands, to requiringdoctors to be fullygowned while insertinga central line, to remov-ing catheters as soon aspossible.

The number of central-line infections has fallensharply as a result, ac-cording to a CDC reportreleased earlier this

month. Urinary tract infections from cathetersalso have fallen, though not as sharply.

At the same time, the improvements were notseen at all hospitals.

The two types of bacteria that worried hospi-tals and other facilities have been methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and C.difficile, commonly known as MRSA and C.diff.

Now they must add CRE to the list.

"We haven't seen this infection yet, but we aregearing up for it," said David Shapiro, chiefmedical officer of Columbia St. Mary's HealthSystem.

Health systems and hospitals typically take aseries of steps when a patient has an antibi-otic-resistant infection. These include isolat-ing the patient, requiring anyone entering hisor her room to be fully gowned and not usingthe patient's equipment on other patients.

The hospitals in Wisconsin that have had CREinfections are not publicly disclosed.

Wisconsin is not among the few states that re-quire hospitals to disclose to the public infor-mation on infection rates for specific types ofbacteria, such as MRSA.

That has frustrated consumer advocates.

"If you are going into the hospital, you sure asheck would want to know that," said LisaMcGiffert, director of the Safe Patient Projectat Consumers Union, the publisher of Con-sumer Reports.

--By Karen Herzog and Guy BoultonMilwaukee Journal Sentinel

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The status of Wisconsin health

Statistics have been releasedthat show where the state ofWisconsin ranks in regardsto health in comparison tothe other states. The Gallup-Healthways wellbeing indexis a very interesting resourcefor looking at the healthtrends that are a part of ourlives.

The report ranks Wisconsinat 20th in the nation in over-all health score. Hawaii, Col-orado and Minnesota areranked as the top three. Illi-nois is ranked at 28th. It isinteresting to lookat the break downof health scoreswithin the state ofWisconsin. Theareas near the twincities of Minnesotascore better, andthe far southeastcorner of the statenear Chicagoscores worse.

Some of the statis-tics follow expecta-tions. For instance,healthy lifestylehabits are morecommon in thespring and summer and de-cline in the fall and winter.The statistics also show veryclose correlation between theyears 2011 and 2012 indicat-ing no radical shifts in healthtrends, especially when com-pared to the health statistics

for 2009.Overall health statistics cangive a picture of the overallhealth trends of the popula-tion. These statistics ofcourse mean little to the indi-vidual. The statistics do haveone very important point forthe individual. The statisti-cians used many indicatorsin the evaluation. It is a re-minder to everyone thathealth is not just a matter ofphysical health. As the re-ports point out, health is alsoa matter of emotional healthand how that relates to work,

lifestyle and overall outlookon life.

Statistics can show trends inthe health of Wisconsinites

--D.Bock

National Kidney Disease Awareness MonthAfrican-Americans are no stranger to kidneydisease. We are 3.5 times more likely to sufferfrom kidney disease than our white counter-parts.

According to the National Kidney Foundation,African-Americans make up 29 percent of allpatients treated for kidney failure in the U.S.,but only about 14 percent of the overall U.S.population. We also develop kidney failure atan earlier age. The mean age for African-Americans at the start of treatment for kidneyfailure is 56 years, compared with 66 in whiteAmericans. In terms of renal failure, African-Americans suffer from end stage renal disease(ESRD) disproportionately — 998 per millionAmericans, compared to 271 in whites.

Our two kidneys are incredibly important to our overallhealth.

Their main job is to remove waste from our body throughour urine, but they also help balance the body's fluids, re-leases hormones to regulate our blood pressure, produce vi-tamin D and control the production of red blood cells.

When someone has chronic kidney disease it means kidneysare damaged and cannot do their job properly. Over time, ifthe disease worsens, wastes can build up in your blood andmake you sick. For some, dialysis — a procedure for peoplewith ESRD — does the kidneys' work for you and helps man-age one's condition. In other cases, a kidney transplant isbest.

So what increases your risk of developing kidneydisease?

The National Kidney Disease Education Programcites the following:

4 Diabetes: 44 percent of people starting dialysis

have kidney failure because of their diabetes. Both

types of diabetes — 1 and 2 — can damage your kid-

neys over the years.

4 High blood pressure: This health ailment is the

second leading cause of kidney disease. Like dia-

betes, uncontrolled high blood pressure can dam-

age your kidneys. That's why it's

important if you have been diagnosed with

high blood pressure to measure your

blood pressure every day so you know

what your levels are.

4 Heart disease: There is a connection

between kidney disease and cardiovascu-

lar (heart or blood vessel) disease. People with heart disease

are at higher risk for kidney disease and people with kidney

disease are at higher risk for heart disease.

4 Family history of kidney failure: Your risk of developing

this disease increases if you have family members who suffer

from kidney issues.

Given that we suffer from high rates of diabetes, high bloodpressure and heart disease, it's not surprising kidney diseaseis a serious issue in our community. Past research has foundthat genetics may also play a factor in why African-Ameri-cans disproportionately suffer from kidney disease.

--National Kidney Foundation

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African-Americans are 3.5 times more likely to have kidney disease than whites.

OBSERVING ON MARCH 14

tudy is first to report frequencyof heart failure among breastcancer patients

African-American women whosurvive breast cancer are morelikely to develop heart failure

than other women who have beaten the dis-ease, according to research being presentedat the American College of Cardiology’s 62ndAnnual Scientific Session.

All told, these women have a 1.4-fold greaterrisk for heart failure compared to their whitecounterparts, though the likelihood of dyingafter developing heart failure is roughly thesame. This trend remained even after takingother potential contributing factors into ac-count, including age, high blood pressure, di-abetes and use of chemotherapy agents orcardioprotective medications.

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic and CaseWestern Reserve University at MetroHealthin Cleveland said these findings could haveimportant implications for the nearly 27,000new cases of breast cancer each year amongAfrican-American women who may be at riskfor subsequent heart failure.

“In general, African-American women aremore susceptible to heart problems as theyare disproportionately affected by high bloodpressure, obesity, diabetes, high oxidativestress and even vitamin D deficiency,” saidAnna Valina-Toth, MD, PhD, a second-year

internal medicine resident at Case WesternReserve University at MetroHealth and thestudy’s lead investigator. “Our findings sug-gest that these women may require closermonitoring to detect the risk of heart failureearlier.” This is the first study to establishhow often heart failure occurs in a large, rep-resentative U.S. sample of breast cancer sur-vivors, according to researchers. Heartfailure is a chronic condition in which theheart can no longer pump enough blood tothe body.

About half of people who have heart failuredie within five years of diagnosis, accordingto the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention. One reason for the heightened riskof heart failure among breast cancer patientsis the use of anthracycline and trastuzumab,two of the most effective chemotherapy treat-ments available. These agents can damagethe heart depending on the amount a patientreceives over the course of treatment. Dr.Valina-Toth said certain medications calledcardioprotective drugs might help prevent

this damage and merit investigation. “Giventhe risk of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxi-city with both antracycline and trastuzumab,pretreatment with cardioprotective agentssuch as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II re-ceptor blockers and beta blockers, in addi-tion to monitoring cardiac function, need tobe considered prior to initiation ofchemotherapy,” Dr. Valina-Toth said.

Researchers identified 26,347 women withbreast cancer between 1973 and 2007 usingthe U.S. Surveillance Epidemiology and EndResults (SEER) cancer registries that arematched to Medicare data with recordedheart failure diagnoses. Of these, 16 percentwere later diagnosed with heart failure, withAfrican-Americans having the highest heartfailure occurrence of 21 percent compared to16 percent of whites, 13 percent of Hispanics,12 percent of Asians, and 11 percent of othersincluding Native Americans. Most of thewomen, 82 percent, were age 65 or older.Authors say this is an important line of in-quiry given that one out of eight Americanwomen will be diagnosed with breast cancerin her lifetime. Future lines of inquiry shouldevaluate whether non-invasive cardiac imag-ing and pretreatment with cardioprotectivedrugs prior to initiation of antracyclines andtrastuzumab-based chemotherapy would sig-nificantly reduce the risk of heart failure inbreast cancer patients, especially in African-Americans who are predisposed to develop-ing heart failure.

High Risk Of Heart Failure For African-American Breast Cancer Survivors

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South African Health Minister Says 28 Percent OfSchoolgirls HIV Positive, Blames 'Sugar Daddies'

ecause of "sugar dad-dies," at least 28 percentof schoolgirls in SouthAfrica are HIV positivewhile only 4 percent ofboys meet the same fate,according to a report bySouth African news outlet

Sowetan.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi indi-cated the percentage of HIV positive chil-dren is so heavily skewed towards girls

because older men, not young boys, aresleeping with them.

"It is clear that it is not young boys whoare sleeping with these girls. It is old men.We must take a stand against sugar dad-dies because they are destroying our chil-dren," Motsoaledi said, according toSowetan.

The same report also indicated Motsoaledisaid that across South Africa 94,000school-aged girls became pregnant in 2011and nearly 77,000 girls had abortions atpublic facilities.

Motsoaledi said some pregnant girls be-tween the ages of 10 and 14 have testedHIV positive.

The BBC reported that more than 5 mil-lion people, about 10 percent of SouthAfrica's whole population, is living withHIV.Almost half the sum of all those who diedin South Africa last year had AIDS, theBBC reported.

Motsoaledi said that the number ofschoolgirls infected with HIV is a statisticthat "destroyed my soul," the Sowetan re-ported.

M o t s o a l e d ihas beenpraised for hisefforts to curbdisease inSouth Africa.Since hebegan his roleas health min-ister in 2009the number ofpeople receiv-ing anti-retro-v i r a lm e d i c a t i o nhas more thandoubled from678,500 to 1.5million, theBBC reported,citing officialstatistics.By James A.Foley

natureworldnews

In 2011 Motsoaledi told the BBC that hisdepartment plans to provide Aids drugs toeveryone who needs them by 2014.

Not everyone who is HIV-positive needsthe drugs.

As part of the HIV prevention plan, SouthAfrican health facilities provide free cir-cumcisions, which health officials say re-duces the risk of transmission by 60percent.

The Gert Sibande district in Mpumalangahas the highest population infected withHIV. Motsoaledi said every man in theGert Sibande district should be circum-cised.

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(Photo : Reuters) Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

talks with South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in

2012. Motsoaledi said 28 percent of South African schoolgirls

are HIV positive.

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Skin Skin && BeautyBeauty

now. Many do anyway to attract workers. Whywould they drop it precisely as penalties for notoffering coverage kick in?

One reason is that even companies that providehealth benefits can face fines under the law iftheir plans cost workers too much or don’t pro-vide sufficient coverage. Employers in that sit-uation might drop out rather than buy moreexpensive policies that meet the law’s stan-dards.

A Deloitte study last year suggested 10 percentof employers would stop offering group healthplans. A widely criticized McKinsey report from2011 put the number as high as one-third. TheCongressional Budget Office’s latest projec-tions suggest 8 million fewer people will becovered by employer plans five years from nowunder the ACA than without it. Many of themwill get policies through health insurance ex-changes instead. (On balance, CBO projectsthat the law will expand coverage to 27 million

of the 58 million people who don’t have healthinsurance today.)

Companies that drop coverage and let workersfend for themselves risk alienating staff. Smallbusinesses in particular, eHealth’s Hurley says,often feel a moral obligation to provide healthcare. That equation might shift, though, if theACA’s reforms help individuals find affordablepolicies on their own. (That’s a big if.) Employ-ers could turn what they pay for health premi-ums now into cash compensation instead—apredictable cost they would be able to control.(Companies that pair high-deductible healthplans with contributions to workers’ healthsavings accounts have already taken a step inthis direction.)

Don’t expect too many businesses to make thatmove in 2014. But if the ones that do aren’tseen as sending workers into the wilderness,more will surely follow.

--By Tozz, Bloomberg Businessweek in New York.

Why some people getzits and others don't

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Why Your Employer MayDrop Your Health-Care Plan

(continued on page 9)

eenagers rejoice, zit bac-teria aren't all bad.

New research finds themicrobes that cause themost common form ofacne come in two flavors:

the "bad" variety that causes pimples andthe "good" type that may keep the skinglowing.The findings, detailed in the Feb. 28 issueof the Journal of Investigative Dermatol-ogy, may explain why despite the fact thateveryone's skin is crawling with zit bugsonly one in five people develops acne in

their lifetime.

"We hope to apply our findings to developnew strategies that stop blemishes beforethey start," said lead researcher HuiyingLi of the David Geffen School of Medicineat UCLA. Li added the findings wouldallow dermatologists to personalize acnetreatment based on "each patient's uniquecocktail of skin bacteria."

Though acne affects 80 percent of thepopulation at some point in their lives,scientists have made little progress in newtreatments, according to Li and col-leagues. The current antibiotics out theredon't work on the most severe cases ofacne, while other types of treatment haveadverse side effects. [Body Bugs: 5 Sur-prising Facts About Your Microbiome]

Nose bacteria

In the study, Li and colleagues used pore-cleansing strips to collect acne bacteria,called Propionibacterium acnes, from thenoses of about 100 volunteers, half of

whom were pimply and the others clear-skinned. P. acnes lurks deep in skin pores,sometimes irritating the body's immunesystem to cause inflammation and the re-sulting red bumps we call pimples.

From the nose samples, the researcherssequenced the genomes of 66 strains of P.acnes. They were interested in the genesunique to each variety that might distin-guish clear skin from pimply."Two unique strains of P. acnes appearedin one out of five volunteers with acne,but rarely occurred in clear-skinned peo-ple," said Dr. Noah Craft, a dermatologist

and director of the Cen-ter for Immunothera-peutics Research at LABioMed at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center.Next came the surprise:a third strain that com-monly showed up in vol-unteers with healthyskin but only rarely inthose with pimples.

"We suspect that thisstrain contains a naturaldefense mechanism thatenables it to recognizeattackers and destroythem before they infectthe bacterial cell," Lisaid in a statement.

Zapping zits

The researchers think that increasing thebody's good strain of P. acnes, possibly inthe form of a cream, may stop zits in theirtracks.

"This P. acnes strain may protect the skin,much like yogurt's live bacteria help de-fend the gut from harmful bugs," Li said."Our next step will be to investigatewhether a probiotic cream can block badbacteria from invading the skin and pre-vent pimples before they start."

Other zit-zapping research has suggestedbenign viruses called bacteriophages thatfeed on bacteria and not human cells maydo the trick. Scientists reported last yearin the journal mBio they had found com-mon, bacteriophages living on your skincould effectively kill P. acnes.

--By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managin

Your daily cup of coffeemay be aging your skin

Maybe you take all the right steps — all 17 ofthem , even — to care for your skin. But simple,seemingly innocuous habits like a daily cup ofcoffee may be undermining your best efforts,explained New York City dermatologist Dr.Deborah Wattenberg this morning on TODAY.Here's what to avoid to keep your skin lookingyoung and healthy.

1. Seriously, stop smok-ing.

"Smoking is probablythe worst thing you canpossibly do for yourbody, including yourskin," Wattenberg ex-plains — yet 20 percentof Americans are stilllighting up.

Here's just one reason toconsider kicking thehabit: Nicotine andother chemicals found incigarettes destroy theskin's elastin and collagen, leading to wrinklesand fine lines. Smoking also takes a toll on theskin's blood vessels, restricting oxygen flowand subsequently causing your skin to appeardull and sallow. Habitual smoking can also leadto those pucker lines around the mouth, Wat-tenberg says.

2. Wine, candy and coffee are aging your skin.

Turns out, all of your favorite vices — alcohol,junk food and caffeine — are wrecking yourskin, too. "Alcohol and caffeine ... act like a di-uretic and prevent you from holding on towater, so your skin looks sort of prune-like. Itcan get dry and get washed out," Wattenbergsays. "Junk food contains a lot of preservativesand that will do the same thing."

So if you're drinking a lot of caffeine or alcohol,remember to stay hydrated. We need about sixto eight glasses of water per day, anyway, but ifyou're drinking a lot of lattes to get through theday, you'll need to drink even more water tokeep your skin looking pretty.3. Your lack of sleep is written all over yourface.

Actually, if you're drinking caffeine to stay alertthroughout the day, we need to talk about that,too. You may think you're getting away with sixhours of sleep a night, but your skin tells thereal story.

"When you don't sleep, stress causes the re-lease of the hormone cortisol, (which) makes

your skin oily (and) causes acne, which makesyour skin look less attractive," Wattenbergysays.

4. Be nicer to acne-prone skin.

This is counterintuitive, but Wattenberg says

when your skin breaks out, make sure youdon't scrub your face too aggressively. "Theworst thing you can do when you have acne isto try to scrub away your acne," Wattenbergsays. "People try to do that all the time, andcome in with irritated faces as a result of scrub-bing or overwashing."

Acne, she explains, isn't caused by dirt or un-cleanliness — it's hormones that are more likelymaking you break out. So instead of rubbingyour face raw, wash gently, using products thatare going to target the acne like salycilic acid."And you don't want to pick and squeeze — itcauses scarring, pigmentation and makes itworse because you can drive the bacteriadeeper into the skin and create infections,"Wattenberg says. Yikes.

5. You're not wearing enough sunscreen.

Yes, we know it's winter. But you still need toapply sunscreen — several times a day, Watten-berg insists. "Once a day is probably one of theworst things you can do for your skin, becausethe sun is still really strong, and people spend alot of time outdoors," she explains.

Especially in parts of the country where theweather is turning snowier and icier, rememberto reapply your sunscreen — the sun reflects offthe snow and ice, and you can get burned eas-ily. "Sunscreen is the key to youthful skin," shesays.

---By Melissa Dahl, Today.com

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World Allergy Week 2013 Will Focus on the Rising Global Health Problem of Food Allergy:

he World Allergy Organiza-tion (WAO) will host its an-nual World Allergy Weekfrom 8-14 April, 2013, to-gether with its 93 national

Member Societies, to address the topic of“Food Allergy – A Rising Global HealthProblem,” and its growing burden on chil-dren.

Globally, 220-250 million people may sufferfrom food allergy [1], and the occurrence of

food allergies continues to rise in both devel-oped and developing countries, especially inchildren. This year WAO plans to highlightthe need for greater awareness and under-standing of food allergy as well as the ex-change of ideas and collaboration in order toaddress a variety of safety and quality-of-lifeissues related to the care of patients with

food sensitivity. Activities will include inter-national teleconferences with experts pre-senting information about global food allergyconcerns and answering questions immedi-ately afterward.

According to Professor Ruby Pawankar,President of the World Allergy Organization,“There are problems that need to be ad-dressed in many countries throughout theworld such as the lack of awareness of foodallergies, lack of standardized national ana-

phylaxis action plans for food al-lergy, limited or no access toadrenaline autoinjectors, andthe lack of food labeling laws.Moreover, some countries havestandardized action plans but noready access to autoinjectors;others have autoinjectors but nostandardized action plans. Thesecircumstances can be improvedwith the distribution of informa-tion and resources for physi-cians, patients, parents, schools,health ministries, and through-out communities and by a call toaction to policy makers.”

“As in previous years, many ofthe national Member Societies ofWAO will organize local eventsand programs around food al-lergy issues that specifically af-fect their communities,” saidProfessor Motohiro Ebisawa,WAO Board of Director andChair of the CommunicationsCouncil. WAO is providing infor-mation about food allergy onlineat http://www.worldallergy-week.org and will track activitiesof its Member Societies. “Every-one with an interest in food al-

lergy can participate by contacting theirnational allergy societies and food allergy ad-vocacy groups,” said Professor Ebisawa. Alist of organizations is also available on thewebsite.______About the World Allergy OrganizationThe World Allergy Organization (WAO) is an

international alliance of 93 regional and na-tional allergy, asthma and immunology soci-eties. Through collaboration with its MemberSocieties WAO provides a wide range of edu-cational and outreach programs, symposiaand lectureships to allergists and clinical im-munologists around the world and conducts

initiatives related to clinical practice, serviceprovision, and physical training in order tobetter understand and address the chal-lenges facing allergy and immunology pro-fessionals worldwide. For more information,visit http://www.worldallergy.org.

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Children Children && Youth HealthYouth Health

Heaviest Burden is on Children

Many of us strugglewith body image is-sues, most of whichstart at a very earlyage.

Approximately 30percent of girls be-tween the ages of 10and 14 are on a dietat any given time, ac-cording to The Hos-pital for SickChildren in Toronto.

And, body image dis-turbances can beginas early as the pre-school years, according to the Academy of Nu-trition and Dietetics.

Children subconsciously mimic what they seeand hear from the adults around them, so par-ents and other adult role models play an im-portant role in promoting a positive bodyimage.

The most important first step in fostering apositive body image in children is to lead byexample. Children quickly pick up on any anx-iety you have about your body, and throughmimicking the adults in their lives they mayinternalize negative feelings about their ownbodies.

Instead of criticizing the fat on your legs, focusinstead on expressing how lucky you are tohave strong legs to carry you around all day.Don’t talk about things you want to changeabout your body. Instead, brag about whatpositive features you are grateful to have.

Next, incorporate fitness into your whole fam-ily’s routine. Play active games outside, or gofor a run as a family and focus on enjoyingeach other and how good it feels to be active.

Children take their cues from adults and willprobably decide how they feel about exercisebased on how their parents talk and behave.If you talk about how much you dread exer-cising or it being a punishment for eating a

Tips for raising children with a positive body image

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Marriage Rates Contribute to WealthGap for African-American Women

frican-American womenare entering whatshould be their retire-ment years with muchlower levels of wealththan white women,making them more re-

liant on Medicare and other governmentprograms.

A new study by Dr. Fenaba Addo, a Healthand Society Scholar in the University ofWisconsin School of Medicine and PublicHealth, shows that a quarter of African-American women had no assets or a nega-tive net worth when they reached ages 51 to61. Lower marriage rates and a history ofmartial disruption explain some of the dif-ference, the study says.

"It’s not a happy message, but policy mak-ers should be aware that this large genera-tion of black women is approachingretirement with many lacking the assets tosupport themselves or their families," saysAddo, whose study is being published in theApril issue of The Journal of Marriage andFamily.

African-American women ages 51 to 61 hadaccumulated a median net worth of$33,349, compared with $182,897 forwhite women the same age. When homevalue was excluded, those numbers fell to$5,366 for African-American women and$61,761 for white women.

Along with co-author Dr. Daniel Lichter ofCornell University, Addo looked at thewealth of 7,026 women at ages 51 to 61 whoresponded to the national Health and Re-tirement Study (HRS). Three age cohorts

including early Baby Boomers, war babiesborn during World War II and an oldergroup born during the 1930s were surveyedduring 2004, 1998 and 1992 versions of thesurvey.These women, says Addo, "were on thefront line of America’s family revolutionover the past half century." When the 20thcentury began, African-American womenwere more likely to be married than theirwhite counterparts. By the 1950s, the linescrossed.

"The marriage rates dropped off precipi-tously for African-American women in the1950s and 1960s,” says Addo. The studyfound that when these women reachedtheir 50s, 37 percent of African-Americanwomen were married compared with 72percent of white women. Addo calculatedthat this disparity accounted for about eightto 10 percent of the wealth gap betweenraces.

"Marriage is not a cure-all, because whitewomen benefit financially from marriagemore than African-American women,"Addo says. Housing value added anotherdisparity: the homes owned by whitewomen had a mean value of $130,000,compared with a value of $46,000 forhomes owned by African-American women.

And because the last survey was before theGreat Recession, Addo says the accumu-lated wealth for all women is likely lowerdue to the collapse of housing prices,adding, "A lot of this wealth was wipedaway by the recession."

"These women are going to have to workwell into old age," says Addo, "and they willbe especially reliant on programs such asSocial Security and Medicare, because theyhave few other assets."

Addo’s research as a Health and SocietyScholar is supported by the Robert WoodJohnson Foundation. A link to her paper isavailable here.

University of Wisconsin School of Medicineand Public Health--HealthCanal.com

'Simple 7' heart health tips

Among obese people with the same waistline,he added, those who were physically activehad half the chance of suffering from heartdisease.

A U.S. study has found sticking to the sevensteps can halve the chance of getting cancer.

Researchers at Northwestern University inChicago studied the health of more than13,000 people for 25 years.

Those who adhered to six or seven of the cri-teria had a 51 per cent lower chance of gettingcancer than those who met none.

--By Stephen AdamsThe Daily Telegraph

Tips for raising children with a positive body image

slice of pizza the night before, chances areyour children won’t be too excited about it, ei-ther. Focus on exercising to be fit, not to bethin. Start young and make it fun.

Try toddler yoga or simply kicking a ballaround outside; these are great ways to fostera love of exercise in a young child.

This should be obvious, but isn’t: Don’t letyour child watch you get on the scale. Many ofus have picked up the bad habit of letting thenumbers on the scale dictate how we feelabout our bodies. As children grow, the num-ber on the scale will grow as well. You don’twant them to be disappointed or feel badabout themselves because the number they seeisn’t what they wanted it to be. Instead of focusing on weight as a number,talk to your child about feeling good, havingplenty of energy and why it’s important to behealthy.

Food shouldn’t be used as a reward or punish-ment. Instead of talking about eating less (oreating foods you don’t prefer) because you’reon a diet, discuss making better food choicesbecause they are healthier. Allow children tobe part of the decision-making process and letthem help you prepare healthy meals as oftenas possible.

When cooking with different foods, point outthe health benefits of the foods you’re eating.Remove as much processed food from thehouse as possible so that children are forcedto make healthy choices. Any conversationabout junk food should revolve around ex-plaining why it isn’t healthy instead of sayingthat it will make us fat. The more a child feelsdeprived, the greater the chances that he orshe will want to rebel and eat what’s not “al-lowed.”

If a child complains to you about his or herbody, stop and listen. Have a conversationabout why they feel this way, and talk themthrough it. If they have unrealistic ideals aboutwhat they should look like, discuss the idealsthey are holding themselves to and why theymight be unrealistic.

Remind them that the body is an instrument,not an ornament, and it’s beautiful no matterwhat size it is.

Jacqueline Banks is a certified holistic healthcounselor and busy mother. Her focus is onhelping other busy moms in all stages ofmotherhood keep themselves and their littleones healthy and happy. She uses naturaland organic solutions to solve individualhealth problems and promote clean living.

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A

WASHINGTON - The 2013 Symposium on U.S.

Healthcare at Howard University has announced Dr.

Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health

and Human Services, as its keynote speaker on

Wednesday, April 10.

Health professionals from across the nation will as-

semble at Howard for the one-day event, held from

8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Armour Blackburn Cen-

ter, 2397 6th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Attendees

and speakers from health professions will focus on

minority health disparities, building the capacity to

combat issues through education, research and com-

munity leadership, and establishing a pipeline for mi-

norities in STEM careers.

Health disparities among minority U.S. populations

and ethnic groups are apparent in the adult deaths,

infant mortality rates and other oft-cited health meas-

ures. By promoting minority preparation for leader-

ship roles and improving access to a more diverse

group of health professionals, health outcomes can

be improved in vulnerable communities.

The event is free and open to the public, although registration is required.

To register, visit here.

Dr. Sullivan will focus the conversation on such issues with an address titled,

"Preparing Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

(STEM)."

Dr. Antoine Garibaldi, distinguished Howard University alumnus and presi-

dent of the University of Detroit-Mercy, will address the issue of "Bringing

Black Males into the Healthcare Pipeline."

Dr. Jeanne Sinkford, associate executive director and director of the Amer-

ican Dental Education Association's Center for Equity and Diversity, Dr.

Marc Nivet of the Association of American Medical

Colleges and Dr. Christina Stasiuk of Cigna Health

Services will highlight the role of minority women in

healthcare professions. Reginald Van Lee, senior

vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, will focus on

the effectiveness of the use of mega-community ap-

proaches to healthcare issues.

"By providing more Americans with access to quality

care, the Affordable Care Act was a major step to-

ward equalizing healthcare across communities,"

said Jannette L. Dates, Ph.D., dean emerita of the

Howard University School of Communications and

chair of the Symposium Planning Committee. "Key to

our mission of eliminating health disparities is in-

creasing the number of minority health professionals

that understand their communities' needs."

With funds donated by the Carnegie Corporation of

New York and support of the University's Time

Warner Endowment, the Howard University Initiative

on Democracy, Markets, Communication and Tech-

nology (IDMCT) seeks to increase opportunities for the University to facili-

tate national and international research and discussions of complex national

and international issues.

About Howard University

Founded in 1867, students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading

to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the Uni-

versity has produced two Rhodes Scholars, a Truman Scholar,19 Fulbright

Scholars and 10 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on-campus

African-American Ph.D.s than any other university in the world. For more

information about Howard University, call 202-238-2330 or visit the Univer-

sity's Web site at www.howard.edu.

Focus of 2013 Symposium on U.S. HealthcareFormer Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Louis W. Sullivan to Give Keynote

Health Disparities, Increasing Minorities in Health Professions

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