Fox News reported Wednesday that inner city neighborhoods are conducting health screenings at local barbershops and beauty salons, places that have traditionally served as gathering points for black men and women.

Black men are at greater risk of contracting and dying from major diseases, like cancer, heart attack and stroke. Black women are less likely to get breast cancer, but almost twice as likely to die from it than white women.

According to the “Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities among Men with Heart Disease,” black men over the age of 35 are 26 percent more likely to die from the disease than their white counterparts and almost 50 percent more likely to die from it than Hispanics.

The barbershops and beauticians have employed many strategies to address these health disparities. Four thousand barbers are part of Prostate Net,  a program which provides information on screening and affordable  health services. Others have been trained to test for high blood pressure and obesity.

Dr. Wayne Giles, director of the Division of Adult and Community Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said these efforts are a form of community activism that can save lives.

“The idea that people can do things to prevent chronic conditions is a message that doesn’t resonate with many African-Americans,” Giles said. “More and more communities of color are doing what affluent communities have done for decades. They are empowering themselves to take control of their environment.”

Black women are losing inches, but not in the way you might think.

They’re getting shorter generation after generation, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey concluded that black women born in the 1980’s were more than a half an inch shorter than those born in the 1960’s.

Some experts argue that socioeconomic factors are reasons for this disparity.

“Height is a very good overall indicator of how well the human organism thrives in its socioeconomic environment,” said John Komlos, an economist and historian quoted in a Chicago Tribune article about the height gap.

One interesting finding is that black women who have more dough in their wallets also have a few inches on lower and middle-income black women.

“While the heights of low- and middle-income black women are plummeting, upper-income black women are growing taller and rapidly closing the gap with their white counterparts,” according to the study.

Taller and richer? Life is so unfair.

Genetic testing has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among African-Americans. But an article to be published in the journal Science is claiming genetic testing may be alluring, but does not provide an accurate picture of someone’s ancestral heritage.

Researchers are recommending that genetic testing facilities and associations put out disclaimers that clarify the limitations of genetic testsing. The authors of the study say a lot of Americans are attracted by the allure of finding out about their pasts, but blacks are more inclined to undergo genetic testing because they are part of the African Diaspora.

“This search for a homeland is particularly poignant for African Americans, who hope to recapture a history stolen by slavery,” the study’s authors said. 

That search is so poignant that a PBS documentary was devoted to the subject. The 2006 documentary, ”African-American Lives,” allowed prominent African-Americans like Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Tucker, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey to trace their African heritage. But now, with the release of this study, those results could be called into question.

Limitations of Genetic Testing, according to study:

• Most tests trace only a few of your ancestors and a small portion of your DNA.
• Tests are unlikely to identify all of the groups or locations around the world where a test-taker’s relatives are found.
• Tests may report false negatives or false positives
• Limited sample databases mean test results are subject to misinterpretation
• There is no clear connection between DNA and racial/ethnic identity
• Tests cannot determine exactly where ancestors lived or what ethnic identity they held.

Relavant Links:  Atlanta Journal Constitution article on genetic testing and Fox News report on study’s findings.

A study released Monday reported breast cancer death rates dropped more than two percent from 2002-2004, more than double the rate in the preceding decade. But rates for African-American women have increased in recent years. Though they are less likely to get breast cancer than white women, they are almost 80 percent more likely to die from it.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force released its own study and recommendations for decreasing the growing rates of breast cancer among black women.

Even before the recommendations were released, one group in Chicago was working to remove barriers to treatment. The Chicago Chapter of Sisters Network –the only breast cancer support group for African-American women in the U.S.– is launching a new initiative to improve quality of care for black women.

The group will partner with Chicago-area hospitals to send trained volunteers to help breast cancer patients navigate the medical system, get referrals to social workers and provide transportation and babysitting for patients. These efforts echo some of the recommendations made Wednesday by the Task Force.

Key Recommendations from the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force: 

• Provide expanded insurance coverage and expanded availability of disability coverage
• Educate providers regarding cultural barriers to care and addressing issues of cultural beliefs, health literacy and trust in the medical system
• Minimize logistical barriers to care, such as transportation and childcare.

Who would have known that grills, dental jewelry worn by hip-hop artists like Nelly and Bubba Sparks, would become a fad in middle schools across the country? 

Recently, a fifth-grader in Florida had his gold grills, which had been permanently glued to his teeth, yanked out by a school guidance counselor. The counselor said the boy’s oral decoration was an unwanted distraction.

The fifth-grader, Vincent Holloman, was given the grills as a present. His stepfather bought them as reward for getting good grades. 

The counselor was reassigned because of the incident, and Vincent was taken to the hospital, where doctors told his parents there was some damage to his gum tissue.

But most people who posted on the Miami Herald’s website were less sympathetic, one of them said a 10-year-old should not be adorned with a $500 mouthpiece:

The gradual or I should say the accelerated decay of our society. Why not buy the kid a computer or some books?How about some sporting equipment? Fishing gear? New sneakers or new clothes? But some “grillz”? Why not just buy the kid a gold plated AK-47 like the real thugs? I swear the hip hop / wanna be thug mentality is a cancer to our society.

Whether or not hip-hop is a cancer to society, wearing grillz comes with some potential health hazards, like oral cancer. Writing about the grills controversy in her column, Tonyaa Weathersbee of BlackAmericaWeb says :  

“Grills aren’t just some sort of fashion statement that invokes the usual fear in straitlaced folks who blame gangster rap for all the ills of black youth. Grills, you   see, can kill.  They can kill because they encourage tooth decay and bad oral health. Tooth decay and bad oral often lead to periodontal disease, which can lead to oral cancer.”

Weathersbee says black men have the highest incidence of oral cancer and wearing grills does nothing to help this statistic. The American Dental Association even released a statement saying grills act as a haven for bacteria that cause tooth decay.

Tooth decay aside, Vincent Holloman’s parents say they will allow him to continue wearing grills. And I’m sure he won’t be the only one.