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posted by n1 on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the !soul-food dept.

The Center for American Progress reports:

African Americans, a group plagued by significantly high rates of obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other physical ailments. A recent study suggests the answer may lie in the diets of their counterparts across the Atlantic Ocean in the rural parts of the Motherland.

In a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh, 20 African Americans and 20 South Africans switched diets for two weeks. In this time, the Africans consumed traditional American food--meat and cheese high in fat content--while African Americans took on a traditional African diet--high in fiber and low in fat, with plenty of vegetables, beans, and cornmeal, with little meat.

After the exchange, researchers performed colonoscopies on both groups and found that those in the African diet group increased the production of butyrate, a fatty acid proven to protect against colon cancer. Members of the American diet group, on the other hand, developed changes in their gut that scientists say precede the development of cancerous cells.

[...]"we used biomarkers and looked at the proliferation rate that has been tied to cancer," Dr. Stephen J. O'Keefe, the lead researcher, told ThinkProgress. "We were astounded by the gravity and the magnitude of the changes [which] happened within two weeks."

 
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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:36PM (#184045)

    Most so-called African-Americans have never stepped foot in Africa. Most of their ancestors have never stepped foot in Africa for many generations Some don't even qualify for homeopathic Africans (Jamaica says hi).

    Stop calling them African already ffs, they have as much relation to Africa as white Americans have to Europe.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:48PM (#184052)

    But Irish-American and Italian-American are OK?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @10:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @10:11PM (#184194)

      Maybe in the 1910s. Today they just call themselves Americans. Of course, they don't special privileges, like easier acceptance into top universities, by intentionally isolating themselves from everyone else living in the United States. So they have no incentive to be anything but Americans.

  • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:11PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:11PM (#184061) Journal

    Around here in flyover country, it seems most blacks like just being called black if matters of race come up. It's a straight-forward observation. This seems to hold from anime conventions to outreach efforts for breast cancer. It does make one wonder why the media keeps using this “African-American” thing.

    • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by Thexalon on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:22PM

      by Thexalon (636) on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:22PM (#184071)

      1. "black" is an adjective, not a noun.
      2. The point of "African-American" rather than "black" is that it emphasizes both the ancestry and the fact that the person in question is as American as I am. It makes their West African heritage identical in function to my German heritage, for example.

      To further complicate matters, the line between "black" and "white" is far from clear, because the vast majority of black people in the US today also have white ancestors - the master visiting the slave quarters late at night was the rule rather than the exception.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:55PM

        by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:55PM (#184080) Journal

        I personally don't care one way or another. I used to say “African American” until I found myself on a committee that also had an NAACP representative. Every time I'd say it, she'd look at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. So I just started saying “black” (although the reports I generated still listed “African-American”).

        Maybe it's a regional thing.

        • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @05:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @05:45PM (#184103)

          Since 'NAACP' stands for 'National Association for the Advancement of Colored People', you should have used the term 'colored'

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @05:49PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @05:49PM (#184658)
            What about Negro? As in United Negro College Fund?
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @04:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @04:52PM (#184090)

        Fun fact: English adjectives can be used substantively.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:01PM (#184141)

        Except for native Americans, every one else is an immigrant. So, shouldn't every body be identified by their country of origin ? For example, we can have German-American, British-American, Irish-American, Polish-American, Canadian-American, Chinese-American, Indian-American, Pakistani-American, Mexican-American, etc

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by RedGreen on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:53PM

          by RedGreen (888) on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:53PM (#184168)

          "Native Americans" are not native to the Americas either, they came across the land bridge between Asia and Alaska so we are are all non-natives to this area.

          --
          "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
          • (Score: 2) by quacking duck on Monday May 18 2015, @01:33AM

            by quacking duck (1395) on Monday May 18 2015, @01:33AM (#184248)

            That's why in Canada, they are referred to as "First Nations"—they aren't native to this land, but they were the first to form societies here.

          • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday May 18 2015, @01:42PM

            by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday May 18 2015, @01:42PM (#184522) Journal

            By that logic every ethnic group on this planet outside of that one place in Africa where humans developed are not native to their lands. Chinese people were the first people to settle in China. They are not native to that land. They did not just pop up from the ground. They came from somewhere.

            From what I gather, the San people [wikipedia.org] are the only true natives to anything.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @03:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @03:32AM (#184310)

        1. Black is most certainly a noun. See Merriam Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black [merriam-webster.com]

        2. A black person from England who has emigrated to the U.S. will most certainly not appreciate being called "African American". They'd rather be called "black".
        What about a white person from Africa who has moved to the U.S. They are technically "African American".

        "African American" should refer to people either from Africa, or with very recent African ancestry. It should not refer to the colour of the skin.

        We have colour names for that!

      • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday May 18 2015, @10:33AM

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday May 18 2015, @10:33AM (#184451) Homepage

        1. "black" is an adjective, not a noun.

        It can be either. It can also be a verb.

        and the fact that the person in question is as American as I am. It makes their West African heritage identical in function to my German heritage, for example.

        You won't get named as a "German American" if you ever make the news. If anyone ever has to issue a description of you, you'll (I'm guessing) get called "white" or "caucasian," not "white American" or "European American."

        Which makes me wonder, how do the media cope with non-American black people? Do they have to find out what country they're from before they can call them anything?

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:13PM (#184064)

    More importantly, the generally accepted Out of Africa hypothesis implies that all Americans are "African Americans". Serious question: Why do so many Americans not want to say "black"?

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:21PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:21PM (#184069) Journal

      Maybe because saying "black" in Spanish has been ruled as politically incorrect? Black, negro - if one is bad, the other must be bad too. It does get insane.

      • (Score: 1) by CortoMaltese on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:52PM

        by CortoMaltese (5244) on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:52PM (#184079) Journal

        Since when? Many people I know prefer being called negro before african-X, the only place where I've seen it being used as an insult is Argentina and they have... few black people.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @04:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @04:24PM (#184087)

        "Neger" (NL) comes from "niger" which means black in Latin. Even whole countries have been named after this word: Niger (pronounce the French way: Nigèr) and Nigeria.

        Maybe if that "N-word" is burdened by history we could call black people Aithyops again ('Αιθίοπες', that's where Ethiopia has its name) because that Greek word is probably forgotten by now.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 18 2015, @12:22AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 18 2015, @12:22AM (#184231) Journal

          Scorched faces? Hmmmmm - the Greeks originated those stupid jokes about leaving the bread in the oven to long? It was probably the Romans who fired back, saying that the white Europeans weren't left in the oven long enough.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:27PM (#184073)

      In the case of black vs. African American, I suspect that most probably don't care, but some do, and those that do would prefer the latter term. Yes, this has changed a couple times over the past several decades.

      I try to address people the way they prefer to be addressed, unless it is patently ridiculous (such as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince"). Whether they use the same form of address among themselves isn't especially relevant.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:16PM (#184066)

    When I submitted it, I said "Black Americans" in my title.

    -- gewg_

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @07:51PM (#184166)

      Enough of the bull. We know what you're doing.

      -- gewg_

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @10:13PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @10:13PM (#184196)

        Why do you keep on replying to yourself?