Saturday, March 18, 2017

Winner of World Prize for Best Arterial Health Goes to Where? - Science

It seems Japanese have lost the title since it now goes to a tribe of Indians who live in the Amazon region.  We have heard many times about excellent Japanese health based on a less meat-intensive diet but I have never heard of this tribe previously.

Study estimates that an 80 year old from the Tsimane (pronounced chee-MAH-nay) group had the same vascular age as an American in their mid-fifties. (Science Daily: Indigenous South American group has healthiest arteries of all populations yet studied, providing clues to healthy lifestyle)

Well


The Tsimane people -- a forager-horticulturalist population of the Bolivian Amazon -- have the lowest reported levels of vascular aging for any population, with coronary atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) being five times less common than in the US, according to a study published in The Lancet and being presented at the American College of Cardiology conference.

- SD

The American lifestyle is going to take a beating in this one but that's probably not surprising you.


And here's the one-punch:

"Our study shows that the Tsimane indigenous South Americans have the lowest prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis of any population yet studied," said senior anthropology author, Professor Hillard Kaplan, University of New Mexico, USA. "Their lifestyle suggests that a diet low in saturated fats and high in non-processed fibre-rich carbohydrates, along with wild game and fish, not smoking and being active throughout the day could help prevent hardening in the arteries of the heart. The loss of subsistence diets and lifestyles could be classed as a new risk factor for vascular aging and we believe that components of this way of life could benefit contemporary sedentary populations."

- SD

Relax as you knew it was coming.


Here's how they do it:

Their diet is largely carbohydrate-based (72%) and includes non-processed carbohydrates which are high in fibre such as rice, plantain, manioc, corn, nuts and fruits. Protein constitutes 14% of their diet and comes from animal meat. The diet is very low in fat with fat compromising only 14% of the diet -- equivalent to an estimated 38 grams of fat each day, including 11g saturated fat and no trans fats. In addition, smoking was rare in the population.

- SD

That's probably not a surprise either but it reaffirms the situation.


The result is unmistakeable and I do apologize that I'm sounding like a missionary but maybe that's inevitable in the face of this.

Based on their CT scan, almost nine in 10 of the Tsimane people (596 of 705 people, 85%) had no risk of heart disease, 89 (13%) had low risk and only 20 people (3%) had moderate or high risk. These findings also continued into old age, where almost two-thirds (65%, 31 of 48) of those aged over 75 years old had almost no risk and 8% (4 of 48) had moderate or high risk. These results are the lowest reported levels of vascular aging of any population recorded to date.

By comparison, a US study of 6814 people (aged 45 to 84) found that only 14% of Americans had a CT scan that suggested no risk of heart disease and half (50%) had a moderate or high risk -- a five-fold higher prevalence than in the Tsimane population.

- SD

The difference is just astounding in one of America's biggest killers.


Here's their sermon to close and good on them for doing it.

"This study suggests that coronary atherosclerosis could be avoided if people adopted some elements of the Tsimane lifestyle, such as keeping their LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar very low, not smoking and being physically active," said senior cardiology author Dr Gregory S. Thomas, Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre, USA. "Most of the Tsimane are able to live their entire life without developing any coronary atherosclerosis. This has never been seen in any prior research. While difficult to achieve in the industrialized world, we can adopt some aspects of their lifestyle to potentially forestall a condition we thought would eventually effect almost all of us."

- SD

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