Coronary heart disease is the biggest killer in several countries worldwide, and there are several deaths reported every year due to this disease. In such cases, blood vessels that nourish the heart become blocked, which prevents the proper functioning of our body. Poor lifestyle, bad eating habits, and lack of exercise are often to be blamed for most heart problems.
Health risks associated with smoking, obesity, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, are well known. However, people from certain countries have healthier hearts whereas people from countries like India, unfortunately, have weaker hearts.
The Tsimane tribe of Bolivia in South America have the healthiest hearts in the world, show few signs of heart disease, clogged arteries.
Tsimane people live in the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia and most part of their day is spent spent hunting, gathering, fishing and farming in order to sustain themselves.
While they don’t have access to reliable clean water, and as a result suffer from infectious diseases, the Tsimane have the healthiest hearts and arteries in the entire world, according to a new study published in The Lancet.
The Tsimane diet is low in saturated fats and high in non-processed fibre-rich carbohydrates from wild rice, plantain, cassava root, corn, nuts and fruits.
“Our study shows that the Tsimane indigenous South Americans have the lowest prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis of any population yet studied,” said senior study author Professor Hillard Kaplan, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico.
And its not about genes, in case you’re assuming that to be the reason. Instead, their secret appears to be a combination of having a diet that is light on saturated fats and high on fiber-rich carbohydrates, staying constantly active, and mostly avoiding smoking.
It suggests that a healthy diet and active, non-smoking lifestyle can mitigate the wear-and-tear caused by a long-lived life.
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