In December, Dr. Benjamin unveiled her report, “How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease,” which found that even minimal exposure to tobacco smoke is harmful and that changes in the design and ingredients (including ammonia) in cigarettes cause them to deliver nicotine more quickly than cigarettes decades ago.
“To have the president to quit smoking is really encouraging and is important for children to see that,” she says.
Minutes before she was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the American Red Cross Minority Recruitment Luncheon in Atlanta, Benjamin shared that her priority is prevention. “It’s the basis of everything that I do … to prevent chronic illnesses and diseases, to have us live healthier, more fit lives. [Our priorities are] everything from obesity to violence in the community to HIV.”
She offered a few examples and the importance of this focus on prevention:
- I released a report on breastfeeding to make sure that women understand the benefits for the baby as well as themselves. They’re less likely to get breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The baby that’s breastfed for the first six months of life is less likely to be obese.
- We also have an interest in violence and bullying among youth and in homes.
- We are teaching people medical adherence – how to properly take their medications.
- We want to make sure that children change the obesity trend within one generation. The [First Lady’s] Let’s Move initiative recently celebrated its first anniversary. Parents are involved, and we want to keep it going so that the trend of one out of three children suffering with obesity will change. We don’t want them to suffer with hypertension, diabetes and stroke. We have to give them a fighting chance.
Dr. Benjamin practices what she preaches and sets an example by joining health walks around the country, including in Baltimore, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She adds, “In the fall, we walked the 27 miles of the Grand Canyon, rim to rim. Down 5,000 feet and back up 5,000 feet, and I enjoyed it.” –yvette caslin
