I found this fascinating. (All taken from an anthropologist's twitter feed)
Government departments frequently publish dietary guidelines. But many hunter-gatherers & forager-farmer diets violate Western guidelines yet they have healthier hearts & much less chronic illness.
Here are 3 well-studied examples:
1. Kitavans of Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea)
In 1990, Staffan Lindeberg spent several months w/ the Kitavans, observing their diet, physical activity, & daily habits. He also measured a slew of health & physiological variable for ~170 adults. Lindeberg found that 70% of the Kitavan's calories came from carbs (e.g., fruits, yams, sweet potato, taro) & ~17% from saturated fat (coconut oil), both in excess of US and UK health authority guidelines. Yet he observed no diabetes & "cardiovascular disease was virtually nonexistent”.
2. Tsimane of Bolivian Amazon
Since 2002, the diet, health, behavior, & life history of 1000s of Amazonian forager-farmers has been studied by a range of anthropologists in what is the most detailed study of health in a small-scale non-industrial society. Like the Kitavans, the Tsimane eat too many carbs by US and UK guidelines standards: ~65% of calories are from starchy cultigens (e.g., rice, manioc, plantains) + more come from other fruit. They also consume ~300 mg calcium/day — far less than typical Western recommendations of >1000 mg/day. Despite the carbs & very low calcium, the Tsimane are medical marvels compared to Westerners. They have hardly any fatty liver disease, brains that atrophy much more slowly with age, & the lowest levels of coronary artery disease ever recorded in a population.
3. Hadza of Tanzania.
Anthropologists have conducted detailed studies of Hadza hunter-gatherers, collecting valuable data on health, diet, & behavior. Most striking about the Hadza diet is the quantity of simple sugars in the form of honey. >60% of Hadza calories come from honey some months. On average, the Hadza seem to get ~400 calories from honey/day — vastly exceeding western guidelines. Despite all the honey, of 192 Hadza people studied, only 2 (barely) qualified as overweight and one (barely) qualified as obese. There is also no evidence at all of type II diabetes. Of 20 people checked, none had fasting blood glucose levels >85 mg/dL (diabetes is >125 mg/dL).
Why the lack of cardiac & metabolic disease among foragers & forager-farmers? There are many possibilities: More fiber, less salt, more exposure to pathogens, more activity. But honestly, we don’t know. We still struggle to understand why industrialized lifestyles carry such health risks.
But we know that the chronic disease, cancer and illness seems primarily to be a feature of industrial society.
Government departments frequently publish dietary guidelines. But many hunter-gatherers & forager-farmer diets violate Western guidelines yet they have healthier hearts & much less chronic illness.
Here are 3 well-studied examples:
1. Kitavans of Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea)
In 1990, Staffan Lindeberg spent several months w/ the Kitavans, observing their diet, physical activity, & daily habits. He also measured a slew of health & physiological variable for ~170 adults. Lindeberg found that 70% of the Kitavan's calories came from carbs (e.g., fruits, yams, sweet potato, taro) & ~17% from saturated fat (coconut oil), both in excess of US and UK health authority guidelines. Yet he observed no diabetes & "cardiovascular disease was virtually nonexistent”.
2. Tsimane of Bolivian Amazon
Since 2002, the diet, health, behavior, & life history of 1000s of Amazonian forager-farmers has been studied by a range of anthropologists in what is the most detailed study of health in a small-scale non-industrial society. Like the Kitavans, the Tsimane eat too many carbs by US and UK guidelines standards: ~65% of calories are from starchy cultigens (e.g., rice, manioc, plantains) + more come from other fruit. They also consume ~300 mg calcium/day — far less than typical Western recommendations of >1000 mg/day. Despite the carbs & very low calcium, the Tsimane are medical marvels compared to Westerners. They have hardly any fatty liver disease, brains that atrophy much more slowly with age, & the lowest levels of coronary artery disease ever recorded in a population.
3. Hadza of Tanzania.
Anthropologists have conducted detailed studies of Hadza hunter-gatherers, collecting valuable data on health, diet, & behavior. Most striking about the Hadza diet is the quantity of simple sugars in the form of honey. >60% of Hadza calories come from honey some months. On average, the Hadza seem to get ~400 calories from honey/day — vastly exceeding western guidelines. Despite all the honey, of 192 Hadza people studied, only 2 (barely) qualified as overweight and one (barely) qualified as obese. There is also no evidence at all of type II diabetes. Of 20 people checked, none had fasting blood glucose levels >85 mg/dL (diabetes is >125 mg/dL).
Why the lack of cardiac & metabolic disease among foragers & forager-farmers? There are many possibilities: More fiber, less salt, more exposure to pathogens, more activity. But honestly, we don’t know. We still struggle to understand why industrialized lifestyles carry such health risks.
But we know that the chronic disease, cancer and illness seems primarily to be a feature of industrial society.
