Limiting the Risk of COVID-19 Infection in African Americans

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

While wearing a mask in public, washing your hands, social distancing, and covering your cough/sneeze greatly decreases your risk for contracting COVID-19, there a some other less-proven approaches that also need discussion and consideration.

A good amount of theoretical approaches to minimize the spread and severity of COVID-19 have been published. Given this new coronavirus has limited confirmed supplement approaches to prevention and treatment, providers are using foundational knowledge regarding populations and viral infections, and hypothesizing (or guessing) what might be effective.

African Americans have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 with a much higher hospitalization rate and mortality. At the core of worse outcomes in African Americans is poorly controlled chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and COPD. But there is also firm population data that points to trends in vitamin and mineral deficiencies that may also contribute to poor outcomes. Using what we know about these trends and the fundamentals of infections (both viral and bacterial), and also keeping a keen eye on safety, here is what I have been recommending my patients consider.

Zinc (10 to 15 mg) one to three times a day when COVID-19 exposure risk is high

Zinc is an essential trace element that is critical for a variety of biological processes and proper immune function. Studies have consistently shown zinc deficiencies in African Americans and believe the dramatically increased rate of HIV and hepatitis C in African Americans represents an impaired immune defense linked to lower levels of zinc. Zinc’s antiviral activity has been confirmed against a variety of viruses and the science of how zinc either prevents infection or slows viral spread is well established.

There is also emerging evidence that zinc’s antiviral and antibacterial activities may help slow coronavirus spread and ease the complications that result from an infection. The improved antiviral immunity conveyed by zinc could be particularly impactful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some suggest that the increased severity of COVID-19 in African Americans may reflect a low zinc status and the Mayo Clinic confirms that zinc is clearly more beneficial in populations that have deficiencies.

Vitamin D (2000 IU) once daily

The most dramatic vitamin differences by race or ethnicity relate to vitamin D levels which nutritionists agree is deficient in four of five African Americans. The widespread vitamin D deficiency is somewhat related to the melanin in darker skin, widespread lactose intolerance (also genetically driven) as well as urban living leading to decreased sun exposure.

The lack of vitamin D has been associated with an array of bad outcomes including increased stroke, heart disease, pre-term birth, and a host of cancers including lung, colon, ovarian, breast, and prostate. Low vitamin D has also been associated with a higher risk for lupus (SLE), multiple sclerosis, diabetes and hypertension. African Americans have the absolute highest risk for diabetes, hypertension, stroke and the cancers listed. The lack of vitamin D has also been linked to worse outcomes in COVID-19 infections, but its association may simply be a marker for the chronic diseases listed above. Most African American patients, particularly the elderly and those with limited sun exposure and the potential for exposure to COVID-19 should consider taking vitamin D at 2000 IU daily.

Famotidine (20 mg) once daily

In a study at Columbia University, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 that had famotidine, the acid blocker also known as “Pepcid” within the prior few days had better outcomes. They concluded that “famotidine use was associated with a reduced risk of clinical deterioration leading to intubation or death”. This mechanism of action is not random. Researchers note that famotidine is known to inhibit viral replication in some instances. There are also first-hand accounts of rapid improvement after COVID-19 infection. Given its safety (and over-the-counter availability), its use in a COVID-19 exposed vulnerable population can be justified.

While this information is far from confirmed, its science has a good foundation. Given African American’s well-established vitamin D and zinc deficiencies in the face of a “curiously high” infection rate, these largely safe measures, may make a difference. As always, check with your provider before starting any of these supplements or vitamins as your individual case may warrant a different approach.

Sleep Differences in African Americans

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

Sleep Differences in African Americans

There are racial disparities in sleep with African Americans having a shorter sleep duration, a harder time falling asleep, and a tendency to wake up more easily after falling asleep. There is also a decreased ability to phase shift African Americans sleep cycles when exposed to jet-lag and shift work situations, and the total duration of the cycle was smaller, a study by Eastman and colleagues at Rush University Medical Center found. Sleep differences in African Americans cause a good deal of suffering.

These researchers surmised that the differences in sleep architecture grew from thousands of years of genetic modifications resulting from, for African Americans, exposure to year-around consistent 12-hour light-dark cycles, versus whites coming for northern regions with significant variability in the day length, dawn, and dusk times.

For example, in Ohio the day length changes from as short as eight hours in the winter to as long as sixteen hours in the summer. Ohioans are constantly adjusting to time shifts. With thousands of years of exposure to time changes, Ohioans would develop an increased ability to tolerate the changes. Closer to the equator (like western Africa), the time doesn’t shift nearly as much. The days are 12 hours long all year and there is no need to have an ability to tolerate time shifts.

Therefore “the shifting circadian periods in non-equatorial regions left a genetically modified increased tolerance for variable light-dark productivity hours.” Put simply, people who genetically come from regions near the equator are less able to adjust to time shifts, daylight savings times, jet lag, or anything else that causes a shift in sunrise and sunset.

Everyone has a “circadian period” which is an innate sleep wake cycle. We also have an ability to shift that cycle somewhat. People whose genes come from northern areas of the earth (Europe, Canada, etc.) have an ability to tolerate shifts in time whereas those of us from Caribbean, African, South American regions have much more difficulty adjusting.

In another study, researchers exposed African Americans and White Americans to a 9 hour delayed light/dark sleep/wake and meal schedule, similar to traveling from Chicago to Japan. Essentially what would take 10 days for full adjustment in White Americans, would take 15 days for African Americans to adjust.

Swing shifts are bad for your health!

The need to adjust to time zone changes is only occasional in most people, and there are methods to make this adjustment smoother, but shift work seen in factory workers, police and fireman, healthcare staff, and other positions place an additional health burden on these workers. Shift working was found to add an additional 40 percent risk of heart disease as compared to non-shift work.

There is also increased weight gain as a result of decreased glucose tolerance from meals consumed in the night. When eating at night, your body tends to store more of the calories rather than burn them. Therefore night workers (who have to eat sometimes) tend to be more overweight. Researchers have also found that shifts workers have worse cholesterol results.

All of this contributes to increased health problems and premature death.

Shift work is more prevalent in the African American community and is also associated with worse health outcomes including:

increased smoking
elevated blood pressures
obesity
increased alcohol use
decreased physical activity
depression
work stress

By incorporating a planned exercise schedule and diet, emphasizing the dangers of smoking (particularly in shift workers), and providing better insight into the social impact of these schedules, can help many shift workers. And the few individuals that continually fail to adjust to shift work may feel better knowing there is a simple explanation for their troubles.

It’s in their genes.

Low Vitamin D in African Americans

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

Low Vitamin D in African Americans

Vitamin D is acquired through diet and skin exposure to ultraviolet B light. The skin’s production of vitamin D is determined by length of exposure, latitude, season, and degree of skin pigmentation. African Americans produce less vitamin D than do White Americans in response to equal levels of sun exposure, and have dramatically lower vitamin D concentrations with some studies indicating up to 96 percent of the African American population as low. Yet both races tend to have similar capacities to absorb vitamin D and to produce vitamin D when exposed to light. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030388/)

Overall when measured, African Americans tend to have lower vitamin D3 levels and are very frequently labeled “vitamin D deficient”, but also have confirmed stronger bones and fewer fractures. Powe and colleagues at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Cambridge Massachusetts looked specifically at this paradox and looked at vitamin D3 and vitamin D-binding proteins.

“Lower levels of vitamin D–binding protein in blacks appear to result in levels of bioavailable 25-hydroxyvitamin D that are equivalent to those in whites. These data . . . suggest that low total 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels do not uniformly indicate vitamin D deficiency and call into question routine supplementation in persons with low levels of both total 25-hydroxyvitamin D and vitamin D– binding protein who lack other traditional manifestations of this condition.”

The result of these studies suggest that having both a low vitamin D level and a low vitamin D-binding protein in African Americans actually causes a ‘re-set’ of true deficiency. With both being low, it is vitamin D’s bioavailability that drives calcium levels, parathyroid hormone levels, and true bone risk.

Dr. Powe concluded:

“Vitamin D deficiency is certainly present in persons with very low levels of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D accompanied by hyperparathyroidism, hypocalcemia, or low BMD (bone mass density). However, community-dwelling blacks with total 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels below the threshold used to define vitamin D deficiency typically lack these accompanying characteristic alterations. The high prevalence among blacks of a polymorphism in the vitamin D–binding protein gene that is associated with low levels of vitamin D–binding protein results in levels of bioavailable 25-hydroxyvitamin D that are similar to those in whites, despite lower levels of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Alterations in vitamin D–binding protein levels may therefore be responsible for observed racial differences in total 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and manifestations of vitamin D deficiency.”

So all of this would suggest that African Americans don’t need Vitamin D replacement or supplements.

Do we need additional Vitamin D or not??

Ken Batai and colleagues at the University of Arizona, after studying over two thousand people, found a direct benefit to Vitamin D supplements to preventing prostate cancer in African American men and a pro-carcinogenic effect (inducing effect) of calcium supplementation on the prostate. These findings were strongest in African Americans.

“Calcium and vitamin D are important nutrients, and they may have preventive effects against many health conditions. Although toxicity from high vitamin D supplementation may be low, high calcium intake is associated with increased prostate cancer risk as well as risk of cardiovascular disease and kidney stones. High calcium consumption might be harmful and for prostate cancer prevention, high dose calcium supplementation and fortification should be avoided, especially among AA (African American) men.”

High calcium intake in African American men may actually increase the risk for prostate cancer, but taking vitamin D can reduce the risk.

Diabetes Differences in African Americans

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall2 Comments

Diabetes Differences in African Americans

There has been some startling discoveries lately in the differences in how diabetes is diagnosed and treated in African Americans. Because of genetic nuances that we normally may ignore as insignificant, hundreds of thousands of African Americans remain under-diagnosed and under-treated for diabetes.

Diabetes already occurs at an unusually high rate in African Americans and we are 80 percent more likely to be diagnosed than White Americans. Of those with diabetes, there is a higher tendency for organ damage (heart disease, kidney failure, or blindness, for example) than Whites. The prevalence of visual problems, kidney problems, leg amputations, and overall hospitalizations are dramatically higher in African Americans with diabetes.

The CDC reports that African American men die at over twice the rate of any other race or gender group from diabetes. It was also found that these differences were not solely due to the African American diet, genetic differences played a part as well.

Diabetes is diagnosed at an earlier age (median age 49 vs. 55.4 in White Americans) and this earlier age is significant because the development of diabetes complications is directly related to both blood sugar control as well as the total time a person has the disease. By getting diabetes earlier, there is more time to get complications. Make sense??

Most research dealing with the increased diabetes in African Americans points to increased insulin resistance when compared to White Americans. This means your body has insulin but is “resistant” to its normal function.

A recent study of over five thousand African Americans curiously showed that heavy smoking (more than a pack of cigarettes a day) significantly increased their risk for diabetes by worsening the insulin resistance. Former smokers and people who never smoked had a much lower risk for diabetes compared to the heavy smokers.

HbA1c (Hemoglobin-A-One-See), the blood test used to diagnose and track diabetes, is generally a point higher in African Americans (8.9 in White Americans and 9.8 in African Americans), and when controlling for socioeconomic status, quality of care, self-management behaviors, and access, African Americans still have higher HbA1c levels.

Another study by Saaddine and colleagues looked at younger patients age 5 to 24 years and found that African American youths consistently had higher HbA1c levels even without diabetes.

HbA1c is Different in African Americans

In all, HbA1c value differences in African Americans essentially equates to a 0.4% difference (higher) for glucose matched White American patients. So a HbA1c of 7.0, the normal threshold to diagnose diabetes, is really 7.4 in African Americans. Diabetes should have been diagnosed when the HbA1c was 6.6. Put simply, the accepted relationship between HbA1c and the coinciding blood glucose used by doctors and laboratories is different for African Americans.

“The relationship between mean blood glucose and HbA1c may not be the same in all people. Indeed, the published regression line from the “A1c-Derived Average Glucose” (ADAG) Study demonstrated a wide range of average glucose levels for individuals with the same HbA1c levels.”

If these facts aren’t confusing enough, another study found the HbA1c levels are “less dependable” when they are “near normal” in African Americans. High and low HbA1c levels tend to be much more accurate when estimating the average blood sugars.

Because of the limitations of HbA1c measurements in some situations and the racial differences discussed above, some of the patients with a HbA1c level between 5.5% and 7% will clearly have diabetes, and others will not.

Another curiosity with HbA1c has to do with patients with a sickle cell trait:

“Among African Americans from 2 large, well-established (studies), participants with sickle cell trait had lower levels of HbA_1c at any given concentration of fasting compared with participants without sickle cell trait . These findings suggest that HbA_1c may systematically underestimate past glycemia in (African American) patients with sickle cell trait and may require further evaluation.”

Given that one in ten African Americans have sickle cell trait, it is important to consider their trait when interpreting the results of a HbA1c. In the end, people with sickle cell trait can be tricky to diagnose diabetes. Many doctors neglect to ask if someone has sickle cell trait because, outside of genetic counseling before having children, there has conventionally been little impact on other disorders. Is your doctor aware of this genetically-based difference?

More Genetic Differences . . .

A recent study of over 160,00 patients looked at specific genes and how they impacted the diagnosis of diabetes. One in particular, the G6PD gene variant, was found to significantly impact the results of HbA1c tests in African Americans. This specific gene variant is almost totally unique to people of African ancestry. In fact, about 11 per cent of African Americans carry this gene variant.

“The issue with the G6PD genetic variant is it artificially lowers the value of blood sugar in the HbA1c test, and can lead to under-diagnosis of people with type 2 diabetes. We estimate that if we tested all Americans for diabetes using the HbA1c test, we would miss type 2 diabetes in around 650,000 African Americans.”

Between the 10% of African Americans with sickle cell trait and the 10% with the G6PD gene variant trait, a huge number of African Americans with diabetes are being un-diagnosed or diagnosed late with advanced diabetes. Diagnosing diabetes as soon as it strikes, gives everyone (the doctor and patient) adequate time to prevent complications before they occur.

If you have just been diagnosed with diabetes, I have a great video that will get you off to a good start below.

If you want to know about other genetic differences look HERE.

Diet Differences in African Americans

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

Diet Differences in African Americans

There are a number of important diet differences in African Americans that need to be considered prior to offering advice regarding improvements or adjustments. To tell someone to “eat better” without first knowing their current diet is a waste of everyone’s time.

Some of the basic foundations of African Americans’ diet stem from slavery days, but there are also more recent adaptations that have slowly weaved into the fabric of the African American diet. Some of the changes were economic and others more convenience and culture-related. To sum up the African American diet by only referring to slave influences is to ignore one and a half centuries of added impacts that made the African American diet what it is today. Food availability, storage, financial independence, health literacy, and a sense of history and heritage all contribute to the ever changing components of the widening African American diet.

More Cultures Adding Diet Changes

With the ever changing make-up of African Americans, their diet is equally changing. More Africans, Caribbeans, and mixed races folds in a number of cultural nuances that need to be considered. Even within the African American community, the diets vary greatly. Some sub-cultures eat more rice while others prefer pasta. Some avoid pork for religious reasons, while other avoid beef due to poor digestion or its increasing cost.

These considerations aside, the basics of the African American diet mirror an American diet. The “average” meal will have meat, starch, and vegetables in varying proportions.

Adding Meat to Your Vegetables??

African Americans more frequently will have their vegetables cooked rather than fresh. Because of the scarcity of meat as a main course in slavery days, seasoning these cooked vegetable dishes with fatty cuts of low preference meat (whether smoked or not) quickly became a mainstay in the African American diet. Having the lean cuts reserved exclusively for the more affluent, African Americans became accustomed to other cuts of meat (ham hocks, neck bones, and ox tails, etc.).

Now that the scarcity of meat is much less of a logistical problem, the ‘habit’ or custom of adding meats to vegetables is now merely a standard way to cook them. String beans, collard/mustard/turnip greens almost always have a smoked (and/or salted) cut of meat in the pot. Because of a growing aversion to pork products in some circles, a significant number of African Americans use smoked turkey to season cooked vegetables and beans.

African Americas Do Eat More Chicken

The breakdown in terms of specific meats preferred by African Americans show a predominance of chicken and turkey, as well as relatively more fish and pork, but less beef than white or Hispanic American diets.

Overall, African Americans eat less grains, fewer eggs, less vegetables, and much less milk, but they consume significantly more meat and fruits. By increasing the amount of vegetables, particularly fresh uncooked in the form of salads, more nutritional balance can be brought to the African American diet fairly easily. The increased consumption of fish and poultry (both chicken and turkey) already represents a beneficial existing tradition.

Although African Americans eat relatively fewer vegetables, there are also distinct differences within this category with an increased consumption of fresh green beans, fresh cabbage, and fresh greens when compared with other vegetables.

African Americans Prepare More Meals “From Scratch”

African Americans prepare more meals “from scratch” when compared to majority populations. This diet difference in African American home cooking leads to comparatively more purchases of cooking items including spices, seasonings, oils, and preparation items including baking powder, flour, extracts, and sugars in multiple forms.

The more “home cooking” done in African American kitchens leads to less consumption of pre-processed or ready-to-eat foods which is considerably beneficial. Conventionally, when people think of processed and ready-to-eat foods, they generally equate them with poor nutritional quality and lower socio-economic status. Poti, Mendez, and colleagues looked at the nutritional value of “processed foods” and found they have “higher saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content” when compared to lesser processed foods. Because of the higher proportion of African Americans that are poor, many assumed that they too consume more ready-to-eat foods, but studies reveal that, in fact, African Americans buy less overall ready-to-eat and/or highly processed foods when compared to European Americans.

More Sugary Sweetened Drinks

By PepsiCo, designed by Edward F. Boyd – Downloaded from https://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2007-01-22-pepsi-book_x.htm?csp=34, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11103395

One glaring exception in the purchasing of pre-processed foods was African Americans’ tendency to purchase a much higher proportion of pre-processed sugary beverages when compared to white Americans, and a much lower volume of milk and dairy purchases. Marketing campaigns targeting African Americans like the one to the right from the 1940’s is just one of many that drove up the consumption of surgery beverages.

Other exceptions include a significantly higher consumption of bacon and sausages. Finally, there was also an increased purchasing of processed sweeteners including sugar, syrups, jams and jellies in African American consumers.

While there is far more diet differences in African Americans to cover, the best way to advise a patient on their diet is to first know their specific diet . . . don’t generalize . . . interview. Find out what, exactly, they eat, and then devise an alternative plan with suitable substitutions. Very few people will be able to completely change their diet, and providers should not expect this because it is unrealistic. But we should be able to give helpful advise based on a detailed interview.

Check out this great video on cooking oils and the dangers of reusing oils !!

More Sleep Apnea in African Americans

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall1 Comment

Sleep Apnea is more common in African Americans

A recent study confirmed there is more sleep apnea in African Americans than in Whites. Sleep apnea (also call Obstructive Sleep Apnea / “OSA”) is a condition where people repeatedly stop breathing while they sleep. The outcome is a very poor sleep cycle and interrupted sleep. The lost sleep leads to daytime sleepiness, fatigue, poor concentration, poor energy, increased high blood pressure, heart disease, poor digestion and metabolism, and more.

Scientists found significantly increased sleep apnea patterns, more snoring, more obesity, and poor global functioning in African Americans. The same study also showed decreased formally diagnosed sleep apnea in African Americans despite the disproportional increased occurrence.

African Americans have a poorer sleep quality overall associated with worse insomnia levels and the highest levels for excessive daytime sleepiness. That increased fatigue and sleepiness can cause difficulty at work, trouble watching movies without falling asleep, difficulty with drowsiness while driving, and so on.

With prolonged loss of sleep, high blood pressure results and with that the increased risk for stroke, heart attack, and sudden death from abnormal heart rhythms.

But CPAP fixes this.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure CPAP therapy reduces daytime sleepiness, improves depression and quality of life, and reduces deaths. Overall only about half of people with sleep apnea and a CPAP machine use it. But in African Americans the use of this life-saving treatment is even worse. Black Americans were over 5 times more likely to not use their CPAP machine than White Americans.

Because modern CPAP machines can monitor (and transmit data) about usage and sleep efficiency, researchers were able to determine that African Americans that used the CPAP machine still averaged one hour less of nightly sleep.

Like many health problems, African Americans show significant improvement in CPAP usage when they understand how it works . . . and why it works. A large study found that only about a quarter (26%) of African Americans were using their CPAP machine at 2 weeks compared to almost half (47%) of Whites. They also found that adjusting for income, demographics, and other diseases had no impact on its use.

The finding that African Americans with more severe sleep apnea were 3 times more likely to use CPAP than those with mild or moderate sleep apnea possibly is due to subjectively perceived effectiveness. In focus groups, African American patients said that even with the inconveniences of CPAP, they would use the device if they thought of it as helpful.

The study also failed to show a correlation between socioeconomic status in African Americans and CPAP usage . . . there was no difference between wealthier and more educated African Americans and poorer less educated African Americas in terms of who took advantage of the benefits of the CPAP machine. All were poor.

What makes African Americans avoid CPAP therapy?

The only thing that increased use of CPAP therapy in African Americans was having more severe sleep apnea. The more severe the episodes of not breathing, the higher the use of the CPAP machine. In mild and moderate sleep apnea, the patients may not trust their doctor enough to take their advice . . . this could explain the disparity.

I find that my patients prefer a Tap Pap CPAP mask that only goes into the nostrils and is held in place by your upper teeth.

This “mask” allows more sleeping on your side and is far more comfortable. Wearing the CPAP at night and getting a restful nights’ sleep is essential for health. People are shocked to hear that their heart is enlarged and may be barely functioning, or that their blood pressure is high, all due to poor sleep . . . and the simple use of CPAP therapy can potentially reverse it!

Don’t take a good night’s sleep for granted, it can literally shorten your life. And ask your sleeping partner about snoring and gaps in breathing. You could easily have sleep apnea.

Heavy Smokers at Higher Risk for Diabetes

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

African American smokers have higher risk for diabetes

A large study consisting of over five thousand African Americans found that those African Americans who smoke more than a pack of cigarettes in a day were at increased risk for diabetes. This ground-breaking news was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The study group included current heavy smokers, former smokers, and "never" smokers, all of whom were African Americans, and followed them over the course of several visits. At the end of the study, they looked to see who had developed diabetes. Both former and non-smokers had similar occurrences . . . which is good news for people who have stopped smoking. African Americans who smoked more than a pack a day of cigarettes had a much higher occurrence of developing diabetes (up to 40 percent higher!!). The increased smoking was associated with "impaired pancreatic beta cell function." The pancreas is where insulin is made and proper insulin secretion is how sugars are absorbed into the body. The researchers go on to say:

"Although smoking cessation should be encouraged for everyone, certain high‐risk groups such as blacks who are disproportionately affected by diabetes mellitus should be targeted for cessation strategies."

Are you at risk for diabetes?

Being over-weight and having a strong family history of diabetes puts many African Americans at increased risk for developing this disease. Now we can add heavy smoking to the list! While African Americans have lower teenage smoking rates, they have high adult rates, longer smoking duration, and lower cessation rates when compared to Whites. Almost half (42%) of newly diagnosed patients with diabetes were African American who smoked whereas only 29% (less than a third) that were White smoked.

In general, smoking is associated with a lower body weight so many African Americans resist stopping smoking because of a fear of weight gain. Many also fail to realize the smoking addiction aspect. But in reality the increased smoking actually increases the risk for diabetes. Smoking is known to produce "pot bellies" which in medical circles is known as "visceral adiposity" and that type of obesity (like in the photo) greatly increases the risk for diabetes. If diabetes "runs in your family" and you or someone you love is smoking, tell them about this new information and how stopping now can actually DECREASE their risk for diabetes!! Need more information about Diabetes in African Americans? Click HERE

Salt Sensitivity and Your Health

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall2 Comments

Salt Sensitivity and Your Health

Salt sensitivity is defined as significant changes in blood pressure in response to salt in a diet. 75 percent of all African American patients with high blood pressure are salt sensitive compared to 50 percent across all races with hypertension. The vast majority of African American patients with hypertension are salt sensitive and their salt use needs to be discussed and investigated.

Studies have consistently found salt sensitivity increases with age, and is more common in people that are overweight, have a history of “heart problems,” and have serious kidney problems . . . all of which are increased in African Americans.

Studies have additionally found that salt-sensitivity alone is associated with increased death, even in salt-sensitive people who don’t have high blood pressure.

Many foods found in African American homes are high in salt including:

Canned Soup
Vegetable Juices
Bouillon cubes
Gravies
Soy Sauce
Olives
Pickles
Canned Vegetables
Barbecue Sauce
Ketchup & Mustard
Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal
Bread & Rolls
Pancakes & Waffles
Pizza
Processed Nuts
Chinese Restaurant Fast Food
Spaghetti Sause
Cold Cuts
Cheese
Bacon
Hot Dogs & Sausages
Salad Dressings & Marinades
Smoked meats
Ham
Raw Chicken Breasts (they are frequently injected with a high sodium flavoring solution)
Store-bought Baked Goods

Researchers have also found that being overweight make salt-sensitivity worse.

The increased salt sensitivity is also made worse by having a low potassium. A study from Columbia University in New York showed “salt sensitivity in Blacks may be worsened by dietary deficiencies in potassium or a need for increased potassium requirements compared with whites.”

What can I do to fix this?

A modest reduction in salt intake (half normal consumption: 5 to 6 grams) for a month has been shown to make significant and sustained reductions in blood pressure. In fact, African Americans showed the most pronounced blood pressure reductions in response to salt restriction with a drop of 8 mm Hg systolic (the first number in a blood pressure reading) over 4 mm Hg diastolic (the second number in a blood pressure reading) averaged across as array of studies. Imagine what a bigger salt restriction would do?

The lower blood pressure readings in African Americans after dietary salt restriction is significant and can be maintained over time. Try these Lays Potato Chips with half the salt rather than the regular.

Take the time to look for lower sodium alternatives for seasonings and use other seasonings like garlic power, onion powder, and cayenne & black peppers.

If you are hesitant to start a medication to bring down your mildly elevated blood pressure, spend some time looking at how much salt is in your diet, and then try to decrease this by half.

Lactose Intolerance in African Americans

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

Lactose Intolerance in African Americans

Three out of four African Americans are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance means that if you drink milk, eat yogurt, have cheese, or any other dairy-based product in large amounts, your digestive system will have difficulty digesting it. Most people report feeling bloated and later have loose gassy stool (sorry . . . but these are the facts).

If you are not near a toilet (of your choice), this can be an embarrassing problem. The stomach’s reaction to not being able to digest lactose (a sugar in dairy products) is to simply flush it through its system. For a majority, lactose intolerance in African Americans simply leads to the avoidance of milk and milk-related products.

The significantly decreased intake of milk and dairy products in the African American diet presents a potential increased health risk as “moderate evidence shows that the intake of milk and milk products is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and lower blood pressure in adults”. Constance Brown-Riggs in her article “Nutrition and Health Disparities: The role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes” has recommendations for African Americans to consume three to four servings of low-fat dairy daily.

If only one serving of dairy causes stomach upset and loose stool . . . what will three servings cause? That question is what many African Americans ask themselves, and the answer has been very clear. African Americans drink significantly less milk and eat substantially less cheese and yogurt when compared to the rest of the American population.

The decreased dairy consumption leads to decreased intake of essential nutrients that are found in milk and cheeses. Studies show that African Americans’ intake of the required nutrients calcium, vitamin D, and potassium were all lower than white and Hispanic Americans. And it has been well known in medical circles that African Americans have significantly lower vitamin D levels in their blood.

A Genetic Link for Lactose Intolerance??

The choice for African Americans to avoid milk and related products is not voluntary. Lactose intolerance in African Americans may be due to a genetic design. Research has shown that the proportion of people that are lactose intolerant can be tied to their region of genetic origin. Put simply, regions where dairy herds could be raised safely and efficiently produced people that could digest lactose. Harsher climates in African and Asia restricted the availability of milk, and produced people with much more lactose intolerance, a study at Cornell University found. Researchers found a wide range of lactose intolerances with as low as 2 percent of the population of Denmark descendants as unable to have dairy products compared to nearly 100 percent of the people with Zambian African origin.

Their survey “found that lactose intolerance decreases with increasing latitude and increases with rising temperature”.

Newer information has revealed that maybe there are not as many purely lactose intolerant African Americans as previously thought. Nutritionists have advised that adding milk to a larger meal helps with successful digestion. Some find that having smaller amounts of dairy over time improves digestion and decreases symptoms.

Lactose Intolerance Solutions

Others advise to simply take a lactose enzyme supplement (Lactaid, for example), and the problem is solved because milk, yogurt, or cheese is then easily broken down normally and naturally . . . while the dairy products again provide improved nutrient supplementation.

Other ways of replacing the missing nutrients resulting from low dairy consumption has become fairly easy due to multiple milk equivalents including soy, almond, coconut, and other ‘milks’ that can be used as part of a healthy breakfast. All have been ‘fortified’ with calcium and vitamin D if needed. Oatmeal and/or whole grain cereals with milk equivalents can make a fast and nutritionally efficient meal.

A ‘new’ problem is that African Americans consistently eat fewer breakfasts, and therefore the “opportunity” to have milk, yogurt, cheese, or milk equivalents has substantially decreased. Look at my article on “Diet Differences in African Americans” for more details.

Making a point of having the required serving of calcium and vitamin D in the form of a dairy (or dairy-like) product is the next nutritional priority of Black Americans seeking a longer and healthier life.

Is Cholesterol Lowering Medicine Bad for You?

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Dr Greg Hall

Many of my patients have high cholesterol and are on cholesterol lowering medicines called statins like Lipitor (atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), and Crestor (rosuvastatin). Occasionally they will come in saying some well-meaning friend told them that “cholesterol medicine is bad for them.” They ask me: “Is cholesterol lowering medicine bad for you?”

My answer is almost always: Absolutely NOT. But where does this notion this come from? Where does it say that statins (what we call this group of medicines) are bad for you?

Some of the interest in statins is purely from its widespread use. Over 30 million people are on statins and some recommendations predicts that over 70 million would benefit. African Americans have significantly higher heart disease, diabetes, and circulation problems so the odds of an African American being recommended to start a statin are high.

What do statins do?

Essentially, statins lower your cholesterol (total cholesterol and bad cholesterol) and by lowering the cholesterol, the “clogging” of the arteries with cholesterol is lessened.

Is Cholesterol Lowering Medicine Bad for You? — Cholesterol in artery

The higher the cholesterol, the more clogging of arteries. If you clog the arteries in your brain, you get a stroke. Clog the arteries in your heart, you have a heart attack. Clog the arteries in your legs, you get poor circulation to your feet which could cause infections that could lead to amputation. By lowering the amount of cholesterol, you lower the chance of clogging . . . anywhere.

Is Cholesterol Lowering Medicine ( statins ) Bad for You? — By BruceBlaus – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28761812

Scientists have also found that lowering a high cholesterol also reverses clogging that may have already happened. Mainly, the HDL “GOOD” cholesterol serves this artery-cleaning purpose and by lowering the overall burden of clogged arteries, it can “catch up” with clearing the narrow passages that could lead to total blockage.

What should my Lipid levels be?

When doctors measure your cholesterol (Lipid Panel), they look for a total cholesterol less than 200 and a LDL or “bad” cholesterol of less than 120. In people with existing diagnoses of diabetes, circulation problems, heart attack, stroke, or a family history of early heart attacks or strokes, we shoot for an even lower LDL that is less than 100 . . . or even lower!

Large studies of numerous patients have shown substantial benefit of cholesterol lowering medicines with significantly decreased heart attacks, strokes, and other circulation related medical problems.

Statins help people with kidney problems too?

Another study showed significant benefit of “statins” to people with kidney problems, and it helped many avoid dialysis. Kidney problems are very common in the Black community so anything that improves kidney outcomes can be a big help.

African Americans have “better” cholesterol levels.

Curiously, in general African Americans tend to have “better” cholesterol numbers than White Americans.

With disproportionally higher heart disease in African Americans, researchers have wondered how these better lipid profiles coincide with the documented worse outcomes. The variability seen based on race is yet another curiosity given doctors’ accepted association of bad cholesterol levels equaling worse health, and good levels leading to improved health.

“It is clear that there is further complexity in this relationship among African Americans, who have, on average, a more favorable lipid profile compared to European Americans, yet they do not experience an associated decrease in diseases that are expected to be responsive to reduction in this key risk factor”

Years earlier, scientists attributed elevated Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) levels, the enzyme responsible for breaking down fat, and lower levels of other components, as principally responsible for the improved cholesterol picture in African Americans. Others have confirmed that the better lipid profiles in African Americans is not due to diet and lifestyle considerations noting worse fat content in foods and less exercise in African American populations compared to White Americans.

Attempts to drill down to why good lipids do not lead to better outcomes in African Americans have continued to baffle doctors, but the assumption is the impact of uncontrolled high blood pressure, obesity, and higher diabetes rates overwhelm the beneficial impact of the improved cholesterol levels. It is also possible that African Americans patients should start cholesterol lowering medications at different (lower) thresholds.

Less Prescribed & Less Taken

Unfortunately, African Americans have a poor track record of taking cholesterol lowering medicines when prescribed after a stroke, heart attack, or most other reasons for starting the medication. And doctors are less likely to prescribe statins in African Americans across the board. The result is a deadly combination of a doctor that is less likely to give a medication to a patient . . . and a patient that is less likely to take it. This inconsistency speaks to the trust issues African Americans have with doctors.

Overall statin use and lowering cholesterol saves lives. Dr. Carol Watson, a Black cardiologist said it best in her article “Let the evidence speak”

“These trials thus confirm that significant benefits can occur from statin use in African Americans. Despite this, however, statins remain underutilized in the African American population, thus those that might stand to benefit most, are least likely to receive these life saving medications.”

So the question: Is cholesterol lowering medicine bad for you?

The answer for African Americans is crystal clear: lower cholesterol leads to fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes, better kidney function, better circulation, fewer amputations, and longer lives. Don’t get it twisted . . .