Page 24
The
February 23, 2011
Portland Observer Black History Month
H ealth J M A T T E fiS
Quit Smoking Help Missing from Prenatal Care
Study also looks at disparities
among racial groups
Almost 60 percent of pregnant
women who smoked said they did
not get optimal help quitting smok­
ing as part of their prenatal care,
according to a recently published
study from the Oregon Health Divi­
sion.
"We can do better than 60 per­
cent. Maternal smoking during preg­
nancy has become the most pre­
ventable cause of poor birth out­
comes, such as low birth weight, in
the United States," said Sarah Tran,
principal author of the study. "Also,
pregnancy is a time when women
may be more motivated to make
healthy lifestyle changes."
Tran said that women who are
pregnant may be more receptive to
the Five A's, a best-practice smoking
intervention. This practice involves Tricia Tillman
a health care provider asking a woman
The report also looked at racial
about her smoking status, advising
her to quit, assessing her willingness disparities in whether women were
to quit, assisting quit efforts, and given smoking cessation informa-
arranging for follow-up visits.
tion during their pregnancy. Improv-
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New Guidelines Cut Daily Salt
Of
RJH.AB,
(AP) - The governm ent is tell­
ing half of the U.S. population to
drastically cut their daily salt in­
take.
That's the advice to consum ers
— and the food industry — as the
governm ent issues new dietary
guidelines, which are the recom ­
m endations behind the popular
food pyramid.
For the first time, the A gricul­
ture and Health and Human Ser­
vices departm ents, which issue
the guidelines every five years,
are telling people who are 51 and
older, all A frican-A m ericans and
anyone suffering from high blood
pressure, diabetes or chronic kid­
ney disease to cut the am ount of
sodium they eat daily to little more
than half a teaspoon.
That group includes about half
of the population and those who
are most at risk o f having higher
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blood pressure due to the amount
o f salt they eat. For everyone else,
the governm ent continues to rec­
om mend about a teaspoon a day
— 2,300 m illigram s, or about one-
third less than the average person
usually consum es.
The assault on salt is aim ed
strongly at the food industry,
which is responsible for the m a­
jority o f sodium m ost people con­
sume.
Most salt consum ption doesn't
come from the shaker on the table;
it's hidden in foods such as breads,
chicken and pasta.
It has long been known that too
much sodium increases the risk of
high blood pressure, stroke and
other problem s. But cutting the
salt won't be easy.
"I think it's im portant for us to
do this in a way that doesn't create
an im m ediate backlash," he said.
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seling during their pregnancy, fol­
lowed by white women.
But the study found that preg­
nant American Indian women were
most likely to not receive a full spec­
trum of counseling to quit smoking,
even though they are twice as likely
to smoke as the average Oregon
woman.
It is not known exactly why
American Indian mothers were the
least likely to receive help in quit­
ting smoking, but the disparity
shows there is a need for prenatal
care providers to address tobacco
use - especially those who care for
Native American women, research­
ers said.
Food industry responsible
for most consumption
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W
ing health equity in Oregon is one of
the main strategies in the Action
Plan for Health, which was recently
submitted to the Oregon Legisla­
ture.
"Racial differences in health out­
comes are costly, unacceptable and
preventable," said Tricia Tillman,
director o f the O regon H ealth
Authority's Office of Multicultural
Health and Services. "We need to
address radial disparities through­
out the health care system. By fo­
cusing on culturally relevant strat­
egies, as this study suggests, we
can reduce these disparities."
Black women reported receiving
the most smoking cessation coun-
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PortlandOR,97212