Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 4, 1 April 1999 — Nutrition Malama i kou kino --'Take care of the body' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nutrition Malama i kou kino --'Take care of the body'

By Claire Hughes, Dept. of Health

ANEW REPORTon cancer shows that Native Hawaiians f die more from various S cancers and have the second highest cancer occurrence, after Cau-

casians. among the I five major ethnic [ groups in Hawai'i. i Hawaiian men have the highest rate for lung cancer and the i second highest for n. cancer of the

liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, thyroid and for all cancers combined. Hawaiian women have the highest rate for cancer of the lung and pancreas and second highest for cancer of the breast, uterus, stomach, bladder and Hodgkin's lymphoma, as well as for all eancers combined, when compared to Caucasians, Japanese, Chinese and Fihpinos in Hawai'i. Hawaiian cancer death rates are

high and have worsened over the last 15 years. The reasons for these high cancer death and illness rates are many. However, researchers list the

most important ones as follows: • late detection and diagnosis at a more advanced stage; • higher risk factors such as smoking, high aleohol eonsumption and obesity; •higherriskdiet practices, meaning

diets high in calories, fat, cholesteiol, protein and salt, and low in vitamin C, dietary fiber, ealeium and folic acid; • less access to and use of cancer prevention and control programs; • services that are unavailable, inaccessible and/or unacceptable, whieh results in delay for seeking and accepting treatment; • cancer prevention and education that are not effective in making Hawaiians aware of their cancer risks and lower screening rates; • fatalistic attitudes toward cancer;

• family history of cancer; and • alienahon (disconnection from traditional lifestyle practices and beliefs). This information is

devastating. Yet, these trends among Hawaiians ean be reversed. Thepractices lfom this list that eaeh of us personally controls are smoking, excessive drinking, obesity and diets high in fat, cholesterol and meat. Theseare major prevention factors. It seems that for

modem Hawaiians the priority to take care of our bodies and our children's bodies has been put behind other concems. Our ancestors in their traditional Hawaiian lifestyle paid mueh attention to the care of the body. They ate an excellent, nutritionally sound diet, drank pure water, practiced preventive medicine, performed a lot of physieal activity every day and got plenty of rest. Our ancestors were very aware of the eonnection between their health and food, hard physical work, being productive and being

thankful to the gods. They worked hard to achieve and maintain personal and family lokahi. As modem Hawaiians, we have leamed and adopted too many foreign ways, foreign foods, foreign thoughts and foreign behaviors. The above list of reasons for high cancer death and illness rates also mentions prevention and prevention education, as well as participation in heallh care and screenings to detect and diagnose cancer early. These services are the responsibility of the healīh care professionals and agencies. Hospitals, doctors and health organizations are attempting to reverse their laek of success in reaching the Hawaiian communities with information and services. For example, the federally funded Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems on eaeh island are working hard to provide culturally appropriate services and information to our population. In addition, other health agencies and medical services are beginning to reach out to rural eommunities with education and prevention programs. The health eaie industry is making valiant efforts to implement community programs. It is up to us to begin the process of retraining ourselves to be more like our ancestors in food habits and lifestyle. We ean reverse the cancer statistics for our children and grandchildren. ■

"The practices from this list that eaeh of us personally eontrols are smoking, excessive drinking, obesity and diets high in fat, cholesterol and meat.,>