Minority Health and Health Equity Archive
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769
Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.
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Item Initiative takes on HIV and AIDS(2011) Hawkins, B. DeniseA group of African-American newspaper publishers have enlisted the support of historically black colleges and churches to wage war against HIV/AIDS using their outlets to inform readers, advocate for prevention, and save lives. By next January, publishers of more than 50 black newspapers in the South say they plan to start a campaign that address the AIDS crisis and what their readers can do to protect themselves against the disease. The region these papers represent is where more than 41 percent of those living with AIDS in the United States reside and where the highest number of new AIDS cases…Item Letter to the Editor- In Response to the 2004, Vol 27 article entitled Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches(2005) Kuller, Lewis HThe paper, “Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches,” raises serious and important issues. First, an effectiveness study should be based on proven efficacy, usually from clinical trials. There are no clinical trials to date that show any benefit from the modest increase in fruits and vegetables.1 There has been a negative study, the Polyp Prevention Trial (PPT).2 The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) will report shortly on whether increased fruits and vegetables in the diet arm have reduced cancer and cardiovascular disease. The National Cancer Institute and other governmental agencies can recommend increases in fruits and vegetables to the population.3 However, it is unethical to push an unproven intervention in a demonstration project, that is, that an increase in fruits and vegetables will decrease the risk of cancer, especially in potentially vulnerable populations. Did they explain carefully to the population that there is no evidence that the intervention will reduce the risk of cancer? You could argue that there is no downside from the intervention. We have learned from the betacarotene and vitamin E trials, for example, that even so-called benign interventions result, sometimes, in increased risk of disease.4,5,6,7,8 It would be important to review the consent forms.Item Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches(2004) Resnicow, Ken; Campbell, Marci Kramish; Carr, Carol; McCarty, Frances; Wang, Terry; Periasamy, Santhi; Rehotep, Simone; Doyle, Colleen; Williams, Alexis; Stables, GloriaObjectives: Body and Soul was a collaborative effort among two research universities, a national voluntary agency (American Cancer Society), and the National Institutes of Health to disseminate and evaluate under real-world conditions the impact of previously developed dietary interventions for African Americans. Methods: Body and Soul was constructed from two successful research-based interventions conducted in African-American churches. Components deemed essential from the prior interventions were combined, and then tested in a cluster randomized–effectiveness trial. The primary outcome was fruit and vegetable intake measured with two types of food frequency questionnaires at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Results: At the 6-month follow-up, intervention participants showed significantly greater fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake relative to controls. Post-test differences were 0.7 and 1.4 servings for the 2-item and 17-item F&V frequency measures, respectively. Statistically significant positive changes in fat intake, motivation to eat F&V, social support, and efficacy to eat F&V were also observed. Conclusions: The results suggest that research-based interventions, delivered collaboratively by community volunteers and a health-related voluntary agency, can be effectively implemented under real-world conditions.Item Letter to the Editor Response- Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches(2004) Kuller, Lewis HThe paper, “Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches,” raises serious and important issues. First, an effectiveness study should be based on proven efficacy, usually from clinical trials. There are no clinical trials to date that show any benefit from the modest increase in fruits and vegetables.1 There has been a negative study, the Polyp Prevention Trial (PPT).2 The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) will report shortly on whether increased fruits and vegetables in the diet arm have reduced cancer and cardiovascular disease. The National Cancer Institute and other governmental agencies can recommend increases in fruits and vegetables to the population.3 However, it is unethical to push an unproven intervention in a demonstration project, that is, that an increase in fruits and vegetables will decrease the risk of cancer, especially in potentially vulnerable populations. Did they explain carefully to the population that there is no evidence that the intervention will reduce the risk of cancer? You could argue that there is no downside from the intervention. We have learned from the betacarotene and vitamin E trials, for example, that even so-called benign interventions result, sometimes, in increased risk of disease. 4,5,6,7,8 It would be important to review the consent forms.