Research has shown that members of a remote tribe in the forests of Bolivia have the healthiest hearts in the world. What is their secret?
The results of a new study, published in the magazine "Lancet", reveal that members of the Tsimane tribe have the healthiest hearts in the world. They live in the area around the Manici River in the Bolivian lowlands of the Amazon, and their lifestyle is similar to that of their ancestors who lived there thousands of years ago.
The study examined hundreds of Tsimane men and women and found that nearly 9 out of 10 had clear arteries with no risk of heart disease. Scientists are quite surprised to find that almost no member of that nation has clogged arteries, even in old age.
The scientists concluded that nearly two-thirds of Tsimane people over the age of 75 have no risk at all, and only eight percent have a moderate risk of heart disease.
The Tsimane are so healthy that even at the age of 75 they do not have calcium deposits in their coronary arteries. By comparison, a quarter of Americans aged 45 have calcium deposits in their coronary arteries, while as many as 80 percent of Americans aged 75 have calcium deposits.
What's the secret? Of course, in diet and overall lifestyle. While we can't live like hunter gatherers, we could learn a few things from them.
Nutrition
Their diet is based on the consumption of wild boars, tapirs and water pigs (17 percent of their diet), piranha and catfish (seven percent of their diet), while the rest consists of rice, corn, cassava and bananas, as well as all kinds of fruits and nuts that can to find. If we look at their diet in terms of calorie intake, we will notice that they consume 72 percent of calories through carbohydrates, 14 percent through fats, and 14 percent through proteins.
Lifestyle
Members of the Tsimane tribe are physically extremely active. They take an average of 15.000 to 17.000 steps per day (men 17.000, women 16.000, and people over 60 more than 15.000). They spend their days hunting, fishing, farming, gathering fruits and nuts.
Men spend an average of 6 to 7 hours and women 4 to 7 hours in physical activities. Scientists believe that an active lifestyle and diet are the key reasons for good health, even in old age. The Tsimane also smoke much less, but have more infections that can potentially increase the risk of heart disease by causing inflammation throughout the body. One idea is that intestinal parasites, which moderate immune system reactions, could be more common and help protect the heart.
Tips we can apply
Since physical activity is very important, Michael Gurven from the University of Santa Barbara advises that we go to work by bicycle, that we use the stairs instead of the elevator and that if possible we work at the computer while standing or walking.
We should also practice a lot more.
"This is an excellent study with unique results. The fact that the Tsimane get 72 percent of their energy from carbohydrates contradicts recent suggestions that carbohydrates are unhealthy," explained cardiologist Gavin Cederkok from the University of Essex.
"Their lifestyle suggests that a diet low in saturated fat and high in fiber-rich unprocessed carbohydrates, along with meat and fish, not smoking and being active during the day can help and prevent damage to the arteries in the heart," says Professor Hillard Kaplan of the University in Mexico.
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