Fruit and vegetable consumption and prevention of cancer: the Black Churches United for Better Health project.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the effects of the Black Churches United for Better Health project on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among rural African American church members in North Carolina. METHODS: Ten counties comprising 50 churches were pair matched and randomly assigned to either intervention or delayed intervention (no program until after the follow-up survey) conditions. A multicomponent intervention was conducted over approximately 20 months. A total of 2519 adults (77.3% response rate) completed both the baseline and 2-year follow-up interviews. RESULTS: The 2 study groups consumed similar amounts of fruits and vegetables at baseline. AT the 2-year follow-up, the intervention group consumed 0.85 (SE = 0.12) servings more than the delayed intervention group (P < .0001). The largest increases were observed among people 66 years or older (1 serving), those with education beyond high school (0.92 servings), those widowed or divorced (0.96 servings), and those attending church frequently (1.3 servings). The last improvement occurred among those aged 18 to 37 years and those who were single. CONCLUSIONS: The project was a successful model for achieving dietary change among rural African Americans.

Acceptability of Sodium-Reduced Research Diets, Including the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet, among Adults with Prehypertension and Stage 1 Hypertension

“…The high acceptability of the DASH diet components among African Americans implies that it is possible to alter diets for African American to include more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products. The DASH diet would represent an improved eating pattern for African Americans, who tend to eat fewer fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods than the general US population (36)(37)(38)(39)(40). …”

Addressing Health Disparities: The Role of an African American Health Ministry Committee

“…A range of services has been offered to parishioners that include screening for breast cancer (Markens, Fox, Taub, & Gilbert, 2002), prostate cancer (Collins, 1997) and heart disease prevention (Oexmann et al, 2000), smoking cessation (Schorling et al, 1997;Stillman, Bone, Levine, & Becker, 1993), diabetes management (McNabb, Quinn, Kerver, Cook, & Karrison, 1997), weight reduction (Kumanyika & Charleston, 1992), and dietary awareness (Campbell et al, 1999). Often, Black churches have collaborated with hospitals, professional associations, university-based researchers, and local and state health departments to deliver programs (DeHaven et al, 2004;Thomas, Quinn, Billingsley, & Caldwell, 1994).…”

Culturally Responsive: Exploring the Attributes of Islamic Health Communication

“…This can be done through influence of social elements such as connecting health behaviours to particular sacred commandments or using the norms of the belief as a basis of encouraging or destructive sanctions [8]. As confirmed by Campbell, Demark-Wahnefried, Symons, Kalsbeek, & et al [9,10], affirming individual feelings of religious superiority or disgrace can appeal attitudes towards wellbeing behaviours.…”

“…Islam also provides direction not only in divine matters, but also in day-to-day life as well as well-being. The WHO has acknowledged the function of spiritual aspect in encouraging good wellbeing in accordance to Ottawa Charter [9].…”