(Photo Courtesy: The Daily Mail)
A research published on Friday has suggested that Tsimane people have the “healthiest hearts” in the world.
The study, published in the Lancet, found that Tsimane had the lowest signs of clogged up arteries and live somewhat of a healthful life with very few cardiovascular risk factors.
Tsimane is a Bolivian population of about 16,000 that are living a lifestyle of hunting, gathering, fishing and farming.
Researchers chose to examine the indigenous population to better understand the correlation between industrial lifestyles and the persistent risks of coronary artery diseases.
The study cross-examined and focused on Tsimane individuals, aged 40 years and older, who self-identified as part of the indigenous tribe.
“It’s an incredible population” with radically different diets and ways of living, said the researchers.
Many associate the tribe’s lifestyle and way of living to a human civilization dating back to thousands of years ago – their lifestyle is simplistic and largely based on food gathering and hunting.
Nearly 9 in 10 Tsimane individuals had no risk of heart disease (596 of 705 people, or 85%), 13% had low risk and 3% had moderate or high risk, according to the Lancet study.
Among those aged 75 or older, nearly two-thirds (31 of 48, or 65%) had almost no risk and 8% had moderate or high risk — the lowest recorded levels of coronary artery disease of any population, the researchers said.
According to CBC, the amazon men studied in the research aged 80 and above have showed to have the hearts of Americans in their 50s.
The reason behind disease free hearts is partly due to the daily movement of the tribe – an average Tsimane man walks about 17,000 steps a day while women walk an average of 16,000 steps.
As for the Tsimane diet, about 17% consists of peccary wild pigs, monkeys, rodents, deers and pheasant-like birds and another 7% of their food intake is freshwater fish, including piranha and large catfish.
However, another bulk of their other calorie intake is from plants, rice, maize, manioc root and plantains.
“I am not surprised that a simplistic way of life has caused the Tsimane people to have the healthiest hearts. Certain unhealthy lifestyles have become so normalized – so many people adopt unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking and make it a regular habit of theirs here,” said Hauwa Buhari, an AUD student.
The scientists scanned 705 people’s hearts in a CT scanner and found that at the age of 45, almost no Tsimane had clogged up blood vessels or problems in their arteries.
Also, by the time they reach the age of 75, two-thirds of Tsimane individuals were completely healthy.
Professor Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, told the BBC: “This is a beautiful real life study which reaffirms all we understand about preventing heart disease.”
“Simply put, eating a healthy diet very low in saturated fat and full of unprocessed products, not smoking and being active life long, is associated with the lowest risk of having furring up of blood vessels,” he added.
Fadeke Lipede, another AUD student, said: “There is so much pollution in the world, so maybe its not only the lifestyles of these indigenous people but its probably where they live that have helped them be so healthy.”
“Living in an amazon probably allows the Tsimane people to get a lot of fresh air, free from toxins and smoke.”
“They also probably walk miles a day just to gather their necessities and this all aids in maintaining one’s health,” Fadeke concluded.
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