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THIS is how a remote Amazon rainforest tribe earned the title of world’s slowest agers.
The Tsimanes are an indigenous people native to Bolivia in South America – where a small chunk of the Amazon Rainforest lies.
Reuters
They’re one of the only groups left in modern time who maintain a hunter gatherer lifestyleReutersThey are one of the only groups of people left who resort to a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle for survival.
The very active tribe, who live on the Maniqui River, are constantly hunting, foraging and farming for food.
As well as running around all day, their slow ageing can be credited to this raw, natural diet.
Geographically isolated, the nearest town is a whopping 62 miles away, giving them little access to processed food, booze and fags.
In fact, researchers found that the Tsimanes spend less than 10% of their daylight hours sitting around inactive, according to the BBC.
This is a tremendous given that researchers at the University of New Mexico, found industrial populations spend a staggering 54% of their time adopting sedentary habits.
Prey they hunt down include animals like birds, monkeys and fish – all without the aid of oil – even when they munch on plantain which is often fried.
An average hunt for the nomadic group lasts over eight hours – and spans a huge 11 miles.
On top of that, the scientists in the team, led by Hillardy Kaplan, discovered that the Tsimanes only get 14% of their calories from food, whereas Americans almost double this at 32%.
The experts, along with others studying the fascinating tribe found that the Tsimanes have the healthiest arteries on the planet.
Who are the Tsimane tribe?
LURKING in deep in the Amazon Rainforest are the obscure Tsimanes tribe.
The foragers either speak Spanish or their own unique Tsimanes language.
They’re one of the largest indigenous groups in the Bolivian Amazon and live across an area stretching from the foothills of the Andes range to beyond.
They eat a primarily raw diet which they have hunted themselves including meat and vegetables like plantain and don’t traditionally use oil.
Women and children will often hunt for prey and the average woman is a mum of nine, but all members of a Tsimane are very active.
Prof Kaplan and his team noticed the Tsimanes didn’t exhibit signs of wear and tear including diseases typical of old age like dementia, hypertension, or heart problems.
The researcher exclaimed: “A 75-year-old Tsimane’s arteries are more like a 50-year-old American’s arteries.”
Another mind-blowing discovery came last year when local scientists found the Tsimanes suffered from brain atrophy an astonishing 70% less than their agemates in developed nations like the UK, US and Japan.
Brain atrophy is the gradual damage to nerve cells in the brain that weakens it.
Bolivian doctor Daniel Eid Rodríguez from The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, told the BBC: “We found zero cases of Alzheimer’s among the entire adult population – it is remarkable.”
While many of them boast a seemingly ageless appearance, many of the nomadic tribe aren’t clued up on their age so use records from local Christian missions as a guide.
American neurosurgeon Dr Sanjay Gupta said that foraging meat was often an all-day affair and it was mostly carried out by women and children.
He said the Tsimane take a remarkable 17,000 steps a day or so and said that this regular cardio explained them boasting some of the healthiest hearts in the world.
And for the sake of their studies, scientists go off of the age of a Tsimane’s child to work theirs out.
Researchers also believe the Tsimanes have suffered from an epidemic of sorts and observed high levels of pathogens and inflammation in their bodies.
They suspect that their constant exposure to health threats, as well as countless workouts and a natural diet contributes to their good health.
An indigenous man carrying plantain on his backReuters
Reuters
English (US)