By Jackie Jones

Over the past 20 years, cancer death rates for men have decreased by 21 percent for men and 15-16 percent for women, but increasing obesity rates threaten to reverse those trends, especially for African-American women, according to Otis Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

“The data that shows getting obese causes cancer is very strong,” Brawley said. “The data on weight loss as a cure is not very strong. The data on childhood obesity shows 6 percent of children ages 5-11 were obese in 1970 compared with 18-19 percent of children in that age group today.”

What that means is not getting heavy in the first place is key to continued good health.

Nearly 80 percent of black adult women and 67 percent of black adult men are overweight. Approximately 20 percent of African Americans between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight, and, for the first time in our nation’s history, health projections say the current generation of young people is not expected to outlive their parents because of the health risks they face due to weight problems, including diabetes and hypertension – diseases that affect African Americans disproportionately.

While people have gotten the message to quit smoking and get regular checkups, the message that diet and exercise are also critical to preventing cancer doesn’t seem to have gotten through, Brawley said, and black women have been particularly slow to respond.

“We have a culture where women are more concerned about health than men,” Brawley said.

“Unfortunately, they tend to be more concerned about the health of others rather than themselves. We’re trying to get people to be more concerned about themselves.” The American Cancer Society has launched a More Birthdays campaign, carrying the obvious message that if there is less cancer there are more birthdays. The ACS has even gone viral with this campaign, and all its efforts, on Facebook, with links to Twitter.

The birthday campaign grew out of an ACS study showed that black and Latino cancer survivors were more excited and more likely than other groups to celebrate birthdays after treatment.
“It’s just a campaign to make people think about and focus on their health as it relates to cancer,” Brawley said.

Too many warnings, with too many instructions about diet, exercise, statistics, studies and warnings tend to make people tune out, Brawley said.

“People will hear the messages and if they have too many messages or too (many) complex messages, it will blow by them. The birthday message is simply identifiable so that it will stick.”

Having a high profile supporter of the cause also helps to amplify that message. First Lady Michelle Obama has launched “Let’s Move,” a program directed at ending childhood obesity.

Among the plan’s goals are: a $400 million a year initiative to bring affordable, healthier foods to convenience stores and to increase the number of grocers in low-income communities, as well as amending the Childhood Nutrition Act, which feeds 31 million children at school.

“That’s why I was glad to see Mrs. Obama’s efforts with obesity and children,” Brawley said.

“It’s important.”

Jackie Jones is a freelance writer as well as a career and fitness coach for those who want to get their lives in shape.