The Skin I'm IN
Covid -19 has brought to light of African Americans who have not been aware or ignored the signs and status of health within the black community. Our communities across the USA have seen a disparity as it pertains to deaths, in conjunction with pre-existing conditions stemming from hereditary. Historically, our collective life choices as black people surrounding our diets. Since the onset of this virus, black people somehow were bamboozled by the “fake news” that due to the amount melanin we were protected. My first reaction to this line of thinking was, “since when are WE not affected –this must be a dream, please pinch me!” I could not believe the talk on social media but more over the masses of US who believed such foolery. Yes, statistics are based on the story that the manipulator wants to share, so to hear we were not in the equation immediately gave cause for alarm and with good reasoning to now hear that black people have acquired the virus at alarming rates in comparison to other people of color.
Melanin is the pigment produced by cells in humans/animals which is associated with our skin, hair and eye hues. This cell is called (melanocytes) and it allows for variations of black, brown, yellow and red coloring. It is written in several books and articles that Mitochondrial Eve the “common maternal ancestor to all human beings lived about 200,000 years ago in the heart of Africa who definitely had dark skin.” There are two types of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin. Blacks melanin comes from eumelanin which “is the most common form of melanin and is brownish in color; alternatively, pheomelanin produces lighter variations of melanin such as reddish – brown coloring that is often associated with freckles and red hair.” Melanin is a protect ant of our skin health and is dependent on the production of said cells in order to continue to keep us protected from diseases and skin cancer, however we must do our part by ensuring we have enough Vitamin D in our daily diets.
Vitamin D’s primary resources come from the following:
Sunshine (UV Rays)
Eggs
Salmon
Cheese
Tuna
Milk
Fortified Cereal
Studies show that even when we follow our dietary intake by ensuring we intake enough Vitamin D, there are other factors that hinder the amount of melanin our bodies produce. We must also be diligent by ensuring we limit our exposure to UV radiation, the amount of exposure to the sun without sun screen, go to our yearly physical to ensure there are no lingering diseases/illnesses and research your family’s genetic makeup as a proactive approach to ensure we are living our “HEALTHIEST LIVES!”
Just as with anything in life, melanin has its pros and cons to which I will home in on a few.
PROS
· More production means darker skin
· Darker skin less chance of obtaining cancer
CONS
· Overgrowth of cells can cause moles, benign in nature but more exposure to sun higher chances of skin cancer
In summary, the melanin we are in was gifted to us by a higher power to which we must keep safe and healthy. Unfortunately, there is a high rise in Vitamin D deficiencies in the black and brown communities as of late. The groups originally meant to enjoy as it is now coined in the West, “clean eating” and abundance of sunlight due to their demographical locations within Asia, Africa and the Middle East closer to the equator.
Let us continually do our part by educating one another so we can live in the best skin by embracing OUR MELANIN.
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