Researchers across the country are working painstakingly to determine why Black men develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and at twice the rate of any other group in America. Experts have long believed that there is a genetic link. For the past dozen years, Georgia Dunston, the founding director of Howard University’s National Human Genome Center, and Chiledum Ahaghotu have led the charge to figure out the racial component of the prostate cancer conundrum. They established the African-American Hereditary Prostate Cancer Study to study the family genes of Black men with prostate cancer. By tracking the health and genetic makeup of different generations, they aim to better understand why prostate cancer is so deadly among Black men and whether the disease is primarily inherited or caused by environmental or lifestyle factors. “We’re looking for those individuals who can give us an indicator of what are the genes that are associated with that underlying cancer,” said Dunston. “Because it’s not a difference in the gene – the difference is whether you’re born with it or it’s caused by changes that develop later in life.” More than a dozen research centers, including D.C.’s Howard University, have recruited Black men and their relatives – siblings, fathers, uncles, grandfathers, great-grandfathers from a total of 77 families – and recorded their medical history. With support from the National Institutes of Health and the National Human Genome Research Institute, AAHPC researchers have been sifting through family health records and looking at the participants’ genetic makeup, through blood samples, to see whether there are common genetic mutations or markers that are linked to the disease.

Black men who are in the choir, on the deacon board or otherwise involved in their churches not only feel better about themselves but are more likely to be respected in their community, a new study shows. “Churches may be a primary social outlet and sphere of productive activity for older African-American men, particularly those who are no longer active in the labor force,” said Robert Taylor, professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and a faculty associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research. The study, conducted by the National Survey of American Life, also found that the church is also the hub where even Black men without jobs retain, even achieve, important work roles and prestige. Such activities as men’s club, choir and Bible study allow opportunities for men to be engaged, as do church chores like cleaning, cutting grass, opening and closing the building, and minor repairs. Churches also provide opportunities for marital and family life counseling, as well as access to reference groups and individuals who model and reinforce shared values and behaviors relating to marital accord. Their participation in these services makes them “less vulnerable to marital problems and marital dissolution compared with their counterparts who have not attended services as adults,” Taylor said.

High blood pressure may hit Black men hardest. Young Black men have higher central blood pressure and stiffer blood vessels than White males, indicating that Black men are developing high blood pressure at an early age and with little outward signs, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The findings suggest that measuring central blood pressure (the pressure in the aorta – the main artery leaving the heart) may be more valuable than measuring brachial blood pressure (on the arm) when assessing Black men for hypertension, reports HealthDay. “Central blood pressure holds greater prognostic value than conventional brachial blood pressure as central pressure more aptly reflects the load encountered by the heart,” the researchers wrote. “Thus, brachial blood pressure may neglect important information on cardiovascular burden and response to therapy in African-American men.” The researchers didn’t examine why this occurs in young, fit Black men, but suggested environmental factors, such as diet, may play a role.
Cancer rates and deaths drop. For the first time since the governments’ leading cancer reporting group issued its first report in 1998, both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined are decreasing for both men and women, driven largely by declines in some of the most common types of cancer, the National Cancer Institute. The report notes that, although the decreases in overall cancer incidence and death rates are encouraging, there are differences in the rates of certain cancers by income, race and gender. Large state and regional differences in lung cancer trends among women underscore the need to strengthen many state tobacco control programs, the researchers said. Although cancer death rates have been dropping since the publication of the first Annual Report to the Nation 10 years ago, the latest edition marks the first time the report has documented a simultaneous decline in cancer incidence, the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed, for both men and women. The drop in both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined is due in large part to declines in the three most common cancers among men (lung, colon/rectum and prostate) and the two most common cancers among women (breast and colon/rectum), combined with a leveling off of lung cancer death rates among women. However, researchers from the National Cancer Institute have reported that the incidence of breast cancer among African-American women under 40 is higher than that of White women under 40. The details of this study were reported in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States, with approximately 180,000 cases diagnosed each year. Progress in the areas of screening and treatment has allowed for earlier detection and higher cure rates. Researchers continue to study the incidence rates and patterns of this disease with the hopes of further improving screening, prevention, and treatment. For more on Breast Cancer, go to BET.com/Body & Soul.

Figures show Black men are being harassed. The NYPD apparently is up to its old tricks. A report released this week shows the department stopped a record number of Blacks and Hispanics fin 2006, according to figures gathered by Newsday. Despite criticism about overly aggressive tactics, the NYPD appears headed toward stopping and questioning a record number of people this year, the newspaper’s investigation shows. The department in 2006 stopped 508,540 people – up dramatically from 97,296 stops in 2002. The findings have sparked a wave of criticism that minorities, particularly Black and Hispanic men, are being singled out and harassed by police. The total dropped to 468,932 last year, but in the first quarter of this year, 145,098 people were stopped – the highest quarterly total since the NYPD has kept those numbers.

Undercover N.C. cops Taser man at his father’s funeral.  Five Wilmington, N.C.-area sheriff’s deputies face disciplinary actions for using a Taser on a man as he served as a pallbearer at his father’s funeral, a North Carolina sheriff said Wednesday. Gladwyn Taft Russ III was serving as a pallbearer at the Saturday service and was loading his father’s casket into a hearse when the undercover deputies approached him, according to authorities. Relatives said two deputies, dressed in coats and ties, grabbed Russ and kneed him in his back before using a Taser on him. As they approached Russ, one of the deputy’s gun fell out of its holster, witnesses reported. “Everybody was so scared. We thought it was a drug deal gone bad,” said Ronnie Simmons, another pallbearer and Russ’ brother-in-law. “We almost dropped the casket.” Russ, 42, had failed to surrender after being charged with threatening his ex-wife, who lives in another state. After his father died on Nov. 11, Russ agreed to surrender to authorities after the funeral. When deputies approached Russ, he “went wild” and spat on the officers, Chief Deputy Ed McMahon said. New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey told The Star-News of Wilmington that five of the officers involved would be disciplined, although he wouldn’t say what punishment they would face. “I apologize to anyone that was there,” Causey said. “Family, friends, relatives. … That was a bad decision.” Russ was charged with assault on a government official, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and felony malicious conduct by a prisoner.

High blood pressure is on the rise. Increasingly, more Americans are being diagnosed and treated for high blood pressure, recent studies by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have shown. High blood pressure, by itself, can cause major problems, and is a known risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Also, high blood pressure is diagnosed in obese patients. The institute’s numbers were collected from two National Health and Nutrition Examination surveys, done between 1988 and 1994, respectively 1999 and 2004. After analyzing the data and interpreting the results, the researchers found that women experience higher blood pressure after the age of 40, and men after the age of 60. In the decade prior to 2004, Americans experienced a 5.2 percent increase in high blood pressure cases. However, in the 30,781 cases studied, 72 percent knew they had the disease, 61 percent were in treatment and 35 percent were able to keep their blood pressure in check.

Robin Roberts had an “all-time low” after chemotherapy.  While undergoing chemo treatments for breast cancer, Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts says she reached an all-time low.  “I was in a really bad place,” she tells PEOPLE. “I didn’t want to fake it [on TV].”  Roberts, 47, decided to take off the last three weeks of the year – the longest break she had taken since her diagnosis last July. “I needed more rest. It was too much,” she says, especially given her grueling up-before-dawn work schedule. “I don’t recommend anyone going through chemo get up at 4 a.m.”  By December, the treatment had become an emotional drain. “I was mourning the loss of my health,” says Roberts. But she rebounded quickly after her year-end respite. “I think taking long walks really helped,” she says. “And I circled Jan. 10, the day of my last chemo treatment, on the calendar so I had a goal, an end in sight.”

Two of every three Black men are overweight. Two of every three men, four out of five women and one in five children in the Black community are overweight, according to the  50 Million Pound Challenge, which seeks to reduce obesity and encourage healthy lifestyles in the Black community.  Fitness expert and physician Ian Smith said he began the program last year to provide a “national platform” for healthier living among Blacks, reports The Washington Post.  Smith said that the campaign’s challenge for 50 million pounds of weight loss can be met if 25 percent of the 20 million Blacks in the United States who are considered overweight or obese each lost 10 pounds (Kaiser Health Disparities Report, 4/5/07). More than 690,000 people across the nation have joined the challenge since April 2007, and almost three million pounds have been lost. Smith said, “What we are trying to do is not only to get people to lose weight, but to get them to take a better look at the choices that are directly impacting their physical and spiritual health.” He added, “Poor lifestyle choices and cultural entrenchments have, unfortunately, made African Americans extremely vulnerable to a wide range of diseases that are in many cases life-threatening.” 

Black men are most affected by HIV. HIV is affecting African-Americans with “alarming” ferocity in the United States and the epidemic is far worse than thought to be earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting.  In a detailed study of HIV infected people in the United States, the CDC report says a majority of the new cases occur among gay and bisexual men and that Blacks are most at risk. “The number of new HIV infections among young Black men who have sex with men is alarming,” said Kevin Fenton, MD, PhD, director of the CDC’s division of HIV/AIDS. He added that the study results were “as a powerful reminder that the U.S. epidemic of H.I.V. disease is far from over.” 

Mediterranean diet fights heart disease.  People who eat a strict Mediterranean diet are less at risk of developing heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, Italian researchers report. A so-called Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables and fish, and includes a moderate amount of red wine, but is low in meat, dairy products and other alcohol. “This study helps us to support all the recommendations and the nutritional guidelines on the benefit of Mediterranean diet on mortality from all the causes, as well as on the incidence of cardiovascular, neoplastic and degenerative diseases,” lead researcher Dr. Francesco Sofi, from the Department of Medical and Surgical Critical Area at the Thrombosis Centre at the University of Florence, told HealthDay. “By improving the food quality of the population, we would likely reduce the incidence of these diseases by nearly 10 percent,” Sofi added. The analysis of information on more than 1.5 million people showed that people who strictly followed Mediterranean diets had significant improvements in health. They saw an overall drop in deaths of 9 percent, a 9-percent drop in death from cardiovascular disease, a 13-percent reduction in cases of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and a 6-percent drop in cancer. The report was published in the Sept. 11 online edition of the British Medical Journal.