Topic: Health Disparities
Salt Intolerance is Killing the Black Community: Understand Why
The biggest dietary message that I give to my patients is to decrease their consumption of salt in their diet in order to lower their blood pressure and, therefore, lower their chances of suffering a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure,…
Low WBC in African Americans: The Duffy-Null Gene and When It’s Normal
Is there something wrong with me? Several of my patients have asked me why the white blood cell (WBC) count on their CBC (complete blood count) was flagged in red as abnormal. After digging deeper into the lab result, they…
Scoliosis and African Americans
Lack of Vitamin D Linked to Scoliosis Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk for prostate cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a host of other health problems that are very common in the…
Benefits of Zinc for African Americans: What It Does and How Much You Need
Zinc and infections Zinc is essential for a healthy immune system and for wound healing. African Americans face higher rates of many infections, including sexually transmitted diseases, bacterial vaginosis, HIV, and diabetes-related wound infections that can lead to amputations. Zinc…
African Americans Are Not Getting Their Pain Adequately Treated
A Black Doctor Needed Pain Medicine and Didn't Get It When I suffered from appendicitis a few years ago, I was admitted to the hospital and had emergency surgery. I woke the next day with all sorts of tubes and…
Increased Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in African Americans Linked to Poorer Nutrition
STD Infections? Do you have trouble with recurrent sexually transmitted disease (STD) infections? Is bacterial vaginitis a recurrent problem? African Americans have the highest rate of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, and bacterial vaginitis in the country while not having much…
Bacterial Vaginosis in Black Women: Causes, Vitamin D and Precision Care
Bacterial vaginosis is not a classic STD, but sex plays a role Bacterial vaginosis (BV), often called bacterial vaginitis, is an imbalance of the bacteria that normally live in the vagina. In a national survey of women ages 14 to…
Low Potassium and African Americans
Potassium doesn’t get enough credit as a very beneficial nutrient to good health and potassium deficiency (low potassium) has been directly related to high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, muscle weakness, fatigue, and much more. Multiple studies have confirmed that…
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…
More Sleep Apnea in African Americans
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…
