Good Health for African Americans

African Americans have the highest mortality rates for the nation's six leading killers: heart disease, cancer, stroke, liver disease, infant mortality and accidental deaths and homicides. African Americans can also expect to live, in general, six years fewer than the national average age. Dixon, a nutritionist and monthly columnist for the NAACP's publication, the Crisis , analyzes the health risk factors for African Americans and suggests feasible means of prevention and treatment. She proposes a 24-week plan, called the Sankofa program (from an African proverb about ``learning from the past, building the future''). Because the author's approach to nutrition, weight loss and stress management doesn't contribute anything that couldn't be found in other self-help books, there is nothing intrinsically new about the Sankofa program. But Dixon supplies a fascinating historical explanation as to why disease and mortality rates differ between blacks and other Americans. (The sickle-cell gene, she says, was most likely a defense against malaria.) She chronicles the elements which influence the health of African Americans: traditions that influence diet, damaging habits (cigarettes, alcohol, drugs), stress--such as subdued rage caused by adversity and prejudice--and genetics (which may account for the salt sensitivity among blacks which often leads to high blood pressure). These are potentially political issues, and Dixon handles them with grace and sensitivity while mapping lifestyle changes needed for improved health. (Feb.)