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Health issues among native americans
Indigenous way of life and health
Indigenous way of life and health
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The Unnatural Causes: Bad Sugar video, discusses the diabetes problem among the Tohono O’odham and Pima Native American tribes. The video also shares information on the destruction of the Native American communities that contributed to the demise of the good health that Native American’s once had. Additionally, the video shares how Native Americans’ food diets were affected by the loss of water. Lastly, there are key members of the Native American communities featured in this video, sharing about their efforts to re-build the Native American communities. The Tohono O’odham tribe reportedly has the highest rate of type II diabetes in the world. Half of the adults in the tribe have diabetes and the rates for children with diabetes are increasing. The Pima tribe also has a high rate of diabetes and it is suggested that it is due to the loss of water in the Pima community. The Pima tribe depended on the Gila River as an essential water source to grow their food until the water was diverted to white settlers for their own personal use. The loss of water lead …show more content…
Half of Pima and Tohono O’odham tribes are living below poverty level, which is a social determinant that increases the risk of contracting diabetes. According to the video populations with low income have more than twice of the susceptibility of contracting diabetes than populations with higher income. The U.S. military tried to curb the affects of poverty among the Native American tribes by providing commodity food. However, the downside of this service was the fact that the commodity food consisted of unhealthy foods that contribute to increasing the risks of contracting diabetes. Foods items like, white flour, sugar, candy, chips, and other unhealthy food were given to the tribes. Consequently the tribes made unhealthy foods with the ingredients, like fry bread, which is actually not a traditional food because it derived from the commodity
In Whapmagoostui, “accidental and suicidal deaths, drug and alcohol related illnesses, infectious diseases, and chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and cancer are all found- sometimes in disproportionate number-in native communities across Canada” (14). By waamistikushiiu standards, such health conditions are deplorable; yet for the Cree, these ailments readily signify a deeper, perpetual ache of land and culture. For centuries, influences of waamistikushiiu culture have altered Cree living. Devastating fur trades, land usurpation, mercury poisoning in fish and waterways, and flooding damage are only a few of the casualties to Cree life in the whiteman’s pursuit of happiness. As “the only way to acquire [miyupimaatisiiun] strength is to eat Cree food, and the only way to get Cree food is by hunting,” the Cree are bound to defy whiteman devastation of their land and assert rights to survival on their own terms (94).
For example, Cohen provided the time frame of which sugar was domesticated 10,000 years ago by the natives of New Guinea. He also explained how it rooted from island to island serving different purposes as well as how it was refined and industrialized (82-86). Additionally, he allowed the readers to connect on a personal level with Nick Scurlock by sharing some of his background, home life, and goals (82-97). As well as tying in the darker side of sugar, Cohen gave voice to the lives that were taken for sugar. He informed the readers of the 100,000 slaves harvesting sugar. African Americans replaced Native Americans when they all died out. Mutilation was a punishment and dying was a way to be free (86-87). Furthermore, Cohen obtained information regarding sugar from Dr. Richard Johnson, a Nephrologist, from Aurora, Colorado. The text states that more Americans are suffering from health issues than they were in the 20th century and 35 years ago. An increase of sugar relates to an increase risk of heart disease and diabetes. Limiting the amount of sugar can lead to a healthier status
“The Toxic Truth About Sugar”, written by Lustig et al. varies in their usage of rhetorical strategies to try to have their readers better understand that sugar, as common as it is, can be very dangerous when a big amount is consumed in one day. The numbers in our world don’t lie: A shocking statistic is that there are currently thirty percent more people who are obese than there are healthy. This discussion arose from the staggering facts that obesity is becoming more of an epidemic than ever before. The United States has a choice to make: Take the steps necessary to slow obesity or do nothing at all, like it feels we are currently doing. This can be a good or bad rush, depending on how you assess the situation.
Epidemic diseases brought to the state by Spanish colonists and missionaries in the late 1700s to the early 1800s, turned out to be the most powerful and discreet method to surmount Native American population. The impact of the missionarie...
Food insecurity is one of the major social problems that we have in our world today. The concern about this problem is the increasing number of people that are beginning to experience hunger more often. “While hunger has long been a public health concern in developing countries, it has received varying degrees of attention in the United States, most notable during the 1930s and 1960s” (Poppendieck 1992). In addition to lack of food, there are consequences that follow. People, especially children, who suffer from food deprivation also undergo some health issues such as malnutrition and obesity, which leads to more health care and hospitalizations. “In the early 1980s, most reports of hunger involved families with children, the elderly, the unskilled and unemployed youth, the mentally ill, the homeless and minorities” (Brown 1992; Nestle and Guttmacher 1992). However, a particular ethnic group that is greatly affected by food insecurities are the Hispanic...
One of the most crucial health problems affecting the people of Kern County is diabetes. The risk factors include: being over the age of 45 years old, having high blood pressure, having pre-diabetes, coming from an ethnic minority or low income household, smoking, being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, and eating less than five fruits and vegetables a day. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition where people identify themselves with irregular quantities of blood glucose, which can be a cause from deficiencies in the making of insulin. There are two types of diabetes that people are diagnosed with. The first one is known as Type 1 diabetes, which has to do with influences in your genetics, and Type 2 diabetes, which is brought on by choices in your daily routine. Gestational diabetes occurs while you are pregnant, and if it is not monitored well pregnant women can develop Type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years (Diabetes in C...
In Chicago, food deserts are located on the south and west sides. Unfortunately, the south and west sides are mainly where black people live (Illinois Advisory Committee, 2011). There is a health disparity in the black community compared to the white community (Illinois Advisory Committee, 2011). The black community has a higher obesity and diabetes rate than the white community (Ver Ploeg , Breneman, 2009). The Illinois Advisory Committee concludes that predominately white communities have a lower obesity and diabetes rate because they have easy access to healthy food...
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2012), the diabetes rate has more than tripled since 1980 from about 5.6 million people affected, to nearly 21 million people. And, of the 2.9 million Native Americans, approximately 16% have been afflicted with type-2 diabetes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). These rates were more than twice the rates for the white population and strongly correlated with income level. One factor that is believed to have contributed to the high rates of non-insulin-dependent diabetes is dietary changes from traditional foods to processed foods (Reinhard et al., 2012).
Fitzgerald, N., Hromi-Fiedler, A., Segura-Pérez, S., & Pérez-Escamilla, R. (2011). Food insecurity is related to increased risk of type 2 diabetes among Latinas. diabetes, 3(4), 24-26.
American Diabetes Association, “Native Americans and Diabetes”; available from http://www.diabetes.org/communityprograms-and-localevents/nativeamericans.jsp; Internet; accessed 11 November 2004.
Native Americans have specific culture characteristics health care providers should have basic knowledge of to provide optimal health care. They received the title “Native” because they are indigenous to North Ame...
Many different factors affect the Native American People, in terms of social determinants of health include: access to care, cultural beliefs, high fat diet (mostly carbs/frybread), substance abuse and heritage (trust). Many of the issues faced are preventable with the right approach to address their community. In order to gain trust in this community to help them is to use some of their own culture and change small pieces at a time, rather than coming with a westernized idea right away and trying to have them forget about their heritage, that is what really stood out to me.
My family has a history of diabetes - all of my grandparents are diagnosed with type II. Before had I left for boarding school, I ate breakfast with them every morning, and noticed that their food was especially bland. They picked at the fruits and never ate them. Even though I had already developed a strong interest in medicine, I never understood their food options. When my mother explained to me
Zimmet, P., K.G. Alberti, and J. Shaw.2001. Global and societal implications of the diabetes epidemic. Nature 414 (December 13): 782-86