The valley of the Hunza River is located at an altitude of about 2000 meters above sea level, between the two highest mountain ranges on Earth: the Hindu Kush and the Karakorum. This area on the border of India and Pakistan is almost completely isolated from the rest of the world by high mountains and dangerous glaciers. But it is deservedly considered an "oasis of youth". After all, it is here that the fragments of the amazing Hunza people live.
There is a lot of evidence that there is an amazing tribe on Earth, whose representatives never get sick, look young and live surprisingly long. They call themselves hunza, or hunzakuts. According to various sources, their number ranges from 15 to 87 thousand people. Hunzakuts live in very harsh conditions in the north of India, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, 100 kilometers from the northernmost city of India, Gilgit. Geographic isolation has allowed them to maintain their natural habits and lifestyle that have evolved over millennia.
Alexander's heirs
Curiously, the Hunza, in contrast to the neighboring peoples, outwardly are very similar to the Europeans. It is possible that the founders of their first communities were merchants and soldiers from the army of Alexander the Great, who settled here during a campaign in the mountain valleys of the Indus River.
The capital of this area is Karimabad. More than 95% of the population is Muslim, the dominant language is Burushaski. The relationship of this unique language with any other language or language family of the world has not yet been established. The Hunza River was a natural barrier for two medieval principalities - Hunza and Nagar. Since the 17th century, these principalities have been constantly at enmity, stealing women and children from each other and selling them into slavery. Both of them lived in well-fortified villages.
The Khunza people live not far from the Kalash tribe and look like them. Both Hunza and Kalash have a lot of blue-eyed and fair-haired.
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You can pass through these rock massifs only along narrow passes, gorges and trails. Since ancient times, these routes were controlled by the principalities, which imposed a significant duty on all passing caravans. Among them, Hunza was considered one of the most influential. Under the influence of the Hunzakuts, there was a gorge along which the route from Xinjiang to Kashmir ran. Here they were engaged in regular robberies and extortions from merchants and travelers.
Therefore, they were feared by both the Kashmir troops in the south and the nomadic Kyrgyz in the north. So the Hunza were far from being as peaceful as they are written about in European sources. However, they became famous not for their belligerence, but for their amazing health and unique longevity.
People of this tribe live up to 120 years on average, and even at the age of 100 they work and go to the mountains. Their 40-year-old women look like young girls, and at 60 they are still very active. It is said that Hunza women are capable of giving birth even at the age of 65.
Magic diet
Traditionally, it is believed that the talented English military doctor Robert McCarrison first told Europeans about the Hunza. At the beginning of the 20th century, he treated the sick for seven years in this godforsaken area, and allegedly during all these years he did not meet a single sick hunzakut. He recorded only a few bone fractures and eye inflammation.
In fact, one of the earliest explorers of the area was British Colonel John Biddelph, who lived in Gilgit from 1877 to 1881. This military and part-time researcher of a wide profile wrote a voluminous work "Tribes of the Hindu Kush", in which, along with other peoples, he described the Hunzakuts. Other scientists have written about their amazing health and longevity.
Most of them concluded that the secret of Hunza longevity lies in their nutritional system. The consumption of proteins in highlanders is at the lowest level of the norm, and the forced diet leads to longevity. If a person eats incorrectly, then the mountain climate will not save him from diseases. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Hunza neighbors are constantly ill and live half as much.
Local residents see their secret of longevity in vegetarianism, physical labor and constant movement. Their main food items are vegetables, grains and fresh fruits. The only fruit they dry is apricots. Some vegetables are eaten raw, some are stewed. Only black bread is eaten. Moreover, when the grain is threshed, the bran is not thrown away, but consumed together with flour.
Part of grain crops is used as sprouted grains. Milk and dairy products, salt, treats and alcohol are consumed in very small quantities. It must be admitted that the Hunza are not strict vegetarians. However, the use of animal food is very modest. Most of them eat meat only once or twice a year. Since most Hunza are Muslims, they never consume pork or blood.
Once a year, at a time when the trees are not bearing fruit, the tribe begins a period of starvation. It can last anywhere from two to four months. Hunza it is called "hungry spring". At this time, residents drink water infused with dried apricots. This diet has been elevated to a cult and is strictly observed. It is interesting that the days of forced fasting do not bother or disturb anyone. Hunza live at this time as intensely as on "well-fed" days. Apparently, forced fasting is a powerful stimulus for cleansing the body and maintaining health.
In spite of disease
In fact, the opinion that hunzakuts practically do not get sick is not entirely true. They don't really know about cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and premature aging. McCarrison worked as a surgeon at Gilgit from 1904 to 1911 and, according to him, found no digestive disorders, stomach ulcers, appendicitis, colitis or cancer in the Hunzakuts. However, he focused his research on diseases related exclusively to nutrition. Many other diseases remained outside his field of vision.
Father and son
In 1964, a group of American cardiologists visited the area. They examined 25 people aged 90-110 years and came to the conclusion that everything was normal for them: blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and heart function.
But not everything is as cloudless as many journalists or adherents of vegetarianism try to imagine. For example, Colonel David Lorimer, who lived in Hunza for two years (1933 and 1934), noted in his book: "After the winter, the children of the Hunzakuts look emaciated and suffer from various types of skin diseases that disappear only when the land gives the first harvests." The reason for this, in his opinion, was a lack of vitamins.
Even more specific was the American scientist John Clark. In 1950 he went to the principality, where he worked for a total of 20 months and kept detailed statistics on the treatment of local residents. During this time, he received 5 thousand 684 patients (the population of the principality at that time was less than 20 thousand people). That is, about a quarter of the hunzakuts needed treatment.
What kind of diseases were they? “Fortunately, most had easily diagnosed diseases: malaria, dysentery, trachoma, ringworm, skin rashes, and so on,” the doctor said. In addition, Clark described one case of scurvy and diagnosed the Hunzakuts with severe dental and eye problems, especially the elderly. Their teeth ached from the almost complete absence of fats and vitamin D in food. Eye problems arose from the fact that the houses were heated "in black", and the smoke of the hearth corroded the eyes over the years.
Nevertheless, in 1963, a French medical expedition visited Hunza, which conducted a population census and found that the average life expectancy here is 120 years, which is twice that of Europeans. In August 1977, at the International Cancer Congress in Paris, a statement was made that "the complete absence of cancer occurs only among the Hunza people."
It seems that the Hunza really have enviable health and they can rightfully be considered the only relatively healthy people in the world. For them, walking 100-200 kilometers is a common thing. They easily climb steep mountains and return home fresh and cheerful.
They say that the hunza are constantly laughing and always in a good mood, they never get nervous or quarrel among themselves. Given their extreme poverty and lack of any impressive property, their optimism, humor and consistently serene mood become understandable. Thanks to this, hunzakuts can be considered the happiest people on Earth.
Evgeny YAROVOY