Jose Ramos never gives up. He learned how to persevere from his mother, who survived breast cancer. So, after becoming the first in his family to graduate high school and college, Ramos is aiming high for an MD/PhD. He is currently studying global disease as a master’s student at Columbia University. He has an internship with the Brazilian Health Association to work on community-based cancer and disease research. Last year, he took another big step—he applied for Éxito!. Today Ramos is among two-dozen 2016 grads of the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which annually recruits 25 master’s-level students and professionals for a five-day summer institute and internship opportunities to encourage pursuit of doctoral degrees and careers studying ...
Cancer deaths in the United States have dropped 20% from 1980 to 2014! This is great news, but there are still several “hot spots” where cancer deaths persist despite efforts being made nationally, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study examined 20 million cancer deaths by county location over 24 years. Liver cancer increased by almost 88% nationwide over that span, and clustered along Texas' border with Mexico in largely Latino populations, according to a news report on the research by CNN. Lung cancer deaths “bunched” across the states of Kentucky and Florida, and breast cancer deaths clustered along the Mississippi River and Southern belt. "At the county level, you see huge disparities," Ali Mokdad, the lead author ...
Infant nutrition experts Norma Sifuentes and Diana Montano have promoted breastfeeding for 30 years combined in San Antonio, Texas (63.2% Latino). The two women, employees of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District’s Women, Infants and Children (SAMHD-WIC) department, know that breastfeeding duration rates are low here. Less breastfeeding means more risk of obesity, diabetes, and lower IQs. So Sifuentes and Montano worked together to create a place—a haven—to help low-income Latina and all mothers access breastfeeding support and peer counseling.
Why isn't breastfeeding more prominent?
The benefits of breastfeeding are numerous. For babies, it reduces risk of infectious diseases, asthma, atopic dermatitis, childhood leukemia, diabetes, obesity and sudden infant ...
Mammogram screening rates are lower in Latina than white women and lower in uninsured women than insured women. In order to prevent the social, emotional, and economic burdens of breast cancer among Latina and all women, as well as to prevent premature death, it is critical to reduce barriers to access mammogram screening, like free counseling and screening. The Community Breast Navigation Program (CBNP) embedded a community breast navigator in an adult medicine clinic in a federally qualified community health center in Hartford, Connecticut (17.4% Latino) and increased mammogram screening rates. Through a partnership between UConn and the Susan G. Komen of Southern New England, anyone who visited the clinic had the option to receive free breast cancer counseling and ...
The food you eat influences your cancer risk. The new Rx Cookbook: Cancer-Fighting Recipes, Restaurants & Markets aims to help people reduce their cancer risk with recipes based on an anti-inflammatory diet, developed by a chef and researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Inflammation is the process your body uses to protect itself in response to infection or injury, adding nourishment or immune activity. When inflammation is chronic or unresolved, it can increase cancer risk. The Rx for Better Breast Health study, led by Drs. Amelie G. Ramirez, Michael Wargovich, and Rong Li, gave local breast cancer survivors cooking classes, counseling, and biomarker assessments to test the effects of an anti-inflammatory diet on preventing cancer ...
Regardless of weight status, proper nutrition-starting as early as breastfeeding-has long been associated with positive health outcomes. A new study, published in July 2016, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, UCSF, found that exclusive breastfeeding rates among Latino infants ages 4-6 weeks is associated with longer Telomeres when the children were evaluated at age 4 or 5. Additionally, children who drank soda four or more times weekly showed a much faster rate of telomere shortening than children who drank less or no soda. What are telomeres and what role do they play in our health? Telomeres are the protective bits of DNA that cap the ends of chromosomes in cells and are measured in white blood cells. As we age, our white blood cells aren't as effective at ...
Las mujeres con los genes que están relacionados con el cáncer de mama pueden reducir significativamente el riesgo de la enfermedad siguiendo un estilo de vida saludable, de acuerdo a un nuevo estudio publicado en el Journal of American Medical Association, reporta ABC news. Los factores claves de estilo de vida, los investigadores encontraron que los más importantes fueron: "El mantenimiento de un peso saludable; no fumar; limitar el alcohol; y no usar la terapia hormonal después de la menopausia.” "Las mujeres en la categoría más alta de riesgo debido a factores no modificables, las que tuvieron un índice de masa corporal bajo, no beben no fuman, y no utilizan la terapia hormonal de la menopausia su riesgo es comparable a una mujer promedio en la población general, ...
Women with genes that are linked to breast cancer can significantly cut the risk for the disease by following a healthy lifestyle, according to a new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, ABC News reports. The key lifestyle factors, researchers found to be the most important were: “Maintaining a healthy weight; not smoking; limiting alcohol; and not using hormone therapy after menopause.” “For women in the highest decile of risk owing to non-modifiable factors, those who had low BMI, did not drink or smoke, and did not use MHT [menopause hormone therapy] had risks comparable to an average woman in the general population,” the authors ...
Eating high sugar diets have been known to cause health risks for many years, but a new study based on nearly 3,200 U.S adults whose diet habits and cancer rates were tracked for more than 2o years, show that 565 people were diagnosed with cancer. In the study, results showed that women whose diets consisted of healthy carbohydrates like vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes, had a 67 percent less likelihood of developing breast cancer, compared to women who favored refined carbs like white bread, potatoes and white baked goods. The study also revealed that men who drank sugary juices or beverages were more than three times as likely to develop disease verses men who didn't drink sugary juices or beverages. The lead researcher, Ph.D. candidate in nutrition at New York ...
