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Food and Health Fact #35
Fact #35: A Bolivian tribe with the world's healthiest hearts
By Matthew Rees
Food and Health Fact #35: A Bolivian tribe with the world's healthiest hearts
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In 2014-15, researchers analyzed the coronary artery calcium levels of 705 members of an indigenous tribe in Bolivia known as the Tsimane. The research, which was published in The Lancet, revealed that the tribe members studied (between the ages of 40 and 94) had a level of coronary atherosclerosis five times lower than in the United States. Eighty-five percent of the tribe members had no evidence of the condition (including 67 percent of those over the age of 75). The study’s authors said the Tsimane had “the lowest reported levels of coronary artery disease of any population recorded to date.”
The tribe members, who typically took about 17,000 steps per day, derived 72 percent of their daily calories from unprocessed carbohydrates (focused on plantains, corn, and nuts), 14 percent from fat, and 14 percent from protein. (The typical U.S. diet is 51 percent carbohydrates, 33 percent fat, and 16 percent protein.)
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