Scientists from the United States and Venezuela studied two isolated tribes living in the Amazon forests and found that special diets help them maintain normal blood pressure throughout their lives. Indians are less likely to die from kidney failure and cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack. An article by scientists was published in the journal JAMA Cardiology.
Many experts believe that blood pressure should always rise with age. Several studies have shown that there is no such relationship among non-contact peoples, including hunter-gatherers in South America.
However, until now, scientists did not have enough data on blood pressure in childhood and throughout the life of Aboriginal people. In addition, experts did not compare this indicator among societies with varying degrees of borrowing from the Western way of life (Westernization).
In a new study, experts analyzed the relationship between age and blood pressure among the Yanomamo and Yequana tribes, who live in a part of the Amazonian forest in Venezuela that cannot be reached by land. The Yanomamo, who remain largely unaffected by civilization, are known to consume very little salt, and their blood pressure is one of the lowest in the world.
The Yequana tribes live close to the Yanomamo, but still experience some Western influences due to missionary activities and the proximity of light aircraft runways.
The study involved 72 representatives of the first tribe and 83 people from the second. The age of the subjects ranged from one to 60 years. It turned out that the blood pressure indicators in the Yanomamo do not change with age, while in the Yequan they slightly increase. At the age of 10, the latter's systolic pressure (blood pressure at the time of heart contraction) was 5.8 millimeters of mercury higher than that of the Yanomamo, and at 50, it was 15.9 millimeters higher. In the United States, girls' blood pressure rises by 1.5 millimeters of mercury per year, boys by 1.9 millimeters, and adults by 0.6 millimeters.
According to scientists, the results of the study should help develop methods for the prevention of hypertension in Westerners, including children.