Is atherosclerosis a modern affliction, or has it plagued humanity since ancient times? Ben Daitz examines this question in his Aeon piece about the Tsimane Health and Life History Project, a decades-long study of the Tsimane, an Indigenous tribe living in the Bolivian Amazon. The findings among this foraging population of 17,000 people are remarkable: the Tsimane exhibit virtually no heart disease, lower rates of dementia, and minimal cognitive decline among their elders. Daitz offers a fascinating look into this groundbreaking research—conducted by an international team of anthropologists, cardiologists, geneticists, neurologists, geriatricians, and radiologists—and illuminates the connections between lifestyle, cardiovascular and cognitive health, and longevity.
I asked Thomas about the impact that the Tsimane findings had on his own patients. He said: ‘When we found heart disease in mummies, I told them they shouldn’t feel guilty about getting heart disease or having a heart attack, it’s part of human nature. That’s what I preached for a long time.’ And now, I asked? ‘Prevention works,’ he told me. ‘The amount of exercise the Tsimane do, which amounts to 17,000 steps a day for men and 16,000 for women (about 7-8 miles), and their diet which has 5 per cent saturated fat versus a Western diet of 15 per cent, and they do that by eating a lot of fish and wild animals. And you can’t be going down the street with a bow and arrows, but you can improve your diet and exercise for a lot of the day.’
More picks from Aeon
Orcas and Ourselves
“Sea pandas or sadistic killers? These enigmatic creatures invite contradictory labels that say far more about us than them.”
Compost Modernity!
“The vision of solarpunk: joining nature with technology in vibrantly inclusive ways to create a world that truly blooms.”
How to Become a Tree
“Many people today want to commit their remains to rejuvenating the planet. But are these green deaths just greenwashing?”
‘I Awoke at ½ Past 7’
“Our cursed age of self-monitoring and optimisation didn’t start with big tech: as so often, the Victorians are to blame.”
Hidden in Plain Sight
“Jewish children who were ‘hidden’ in Christian families during the Holocaust have much to teach us about memory and trauma.”
The Salacious Middle Ages
“Medieval people feared death by celibacy as much as venereal disease, and practiced complex sexual health regimens.”
