Now is a great time to refresh your health by quitting smoking for yourself, your family and the community. And with the African American community developing lung cancer at a younger age than our non-African American counterparts, being successful at quitting is essential to the community’s long-term health.

What’s more, experts say that African Americans are more likely to develop and die from lung cancer — even though African Americans have lower exposure to tobacco smoke.

The good news is there are steps African Americans can take to reduce the number of lung cancer fatalities in the community. One major step in the fight against lung cancer is to quit smoking.

Lung cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both lungs.

Even though the medical community still hasn’t agreed on a reliable and practical screening test for lung cancer, there are symptoms of the disease that could warn you of a problem, including a long-lasting cold, pneumonia or other bronchial problems, coughing up blood, fatigue, weight loss, and hoarseness of voice.

Detection and treatment are critical for survival, especially since cigarette use and stage of disease are two reasons why more African Americans die of lung cancer than their non-African American counterparts.

Even if you have quit before and end up relapsing, you can still make a personal resolution to improve your health by attempting to quit again.

Here is a short list of things you can do to reduce your chance of getting lung cancer:

l Quit smoking. Determine the best stop-smoking aid for you that will help reduce your cravings and be successful at your quit attempt. Visit www.Way2Quit.com for more information on nicotine replacement therapies.
l Speak up to your physician and ask for regular screenings to track the health of your lungs.
l Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet.
Remember, you can always reduce your risk of lung cancer simply by quitting smoking.

Life-long smokers over 50 can reduce their risk by half if they quit today.

If you’re a lifelong smoker over 30, you can almost completely eliminate your risk of lung cancer once you quit.

Many people try to go it alone and quit cold turkey, but only 7 percent are successful. By incorporating a nicotine replacement therapy into your quit attempt, you can double your chances of quitting for good, allowing yourself to gradually reduce your craving.

With lung cancer attacking the community, it is up to everyone to take responsibility and make a difference.