Pima Indians

What?

No Native Americans?
No diabetes?

Uh, looking like a dumbass guys.
Anyone?
 
During the lecture, it was noted that the Pima's of Arizona had a substantially higher rate of diabetes than their relatives in N. Mexico.
 
It's of no surprise that Indian tribes are suffering from diabetes right now. Throughout their history they've consumed a largely carnivorous diet and with the high carbohydrate consumption in that past 100 years, their pancreas' are very susceptible to insulin overload. I myself am part Wampanoag Indian and diabetes just runs through my family - my mother and father have both died of heart disease from it.
 
This exact topic was covered in Good Calories, Bad Calories; IIRC, the "thrifty genotype" reasoning was pretty much shot down in favor of a brutally high diet in processed carbohydrates.

Interesting Paleo website, Chad. I haven't seen that one before.
 
I've been following this for some time. I worked with a Navajo in Oklahoma for a while. I grew up next to a Sauk and Fox reservation, 19 years. A friend of my family, a Talequah recently died of diabetes induced complications.
I don't want to say the Natives weren't left with options, for we all have them, but I do think most have gotten a raw deal.
 
Chad Hamilton said:
I've been following this for some time. I worked with a Navajo in Oklahoma for a while. I grew up next to a Sauk and Fox reservation, 19 years. A friend of my family, a Talequah recently died of diabetes induced complications.
I don't want to say the Natives weren't left with options, for we all have them, but I do think most have gotten a raw deal.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say diabetes is rampant on the native American populations in Canada, but it sure is prevalent; while I was in college, we were taught that they actually do have a genetic disposition to both diabetes and alcoholism. Speaking on the first, from what I've seen in the past 14 years, I'd have to say (only from personal experience), that there's a lot more to it than just poor diet choices.
 
MikeMartial said:
I wouldn't say diabetes is rampant on the native American populations in Canada, but it sure is prevalent; while I was in college, we were taught that they actually do have a genetic disposition to both diabetes and alcoholism. Speaking on the first, from what I've seen in the past 14 years, I'd have to say (only from personal experience), that there's a lot more to it than just poor diet choices.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that you brought up both the "thrifty genotype" and predispositions to diabetes and alcoholism.

Evolutionary psychologists have posited that the presence of alcohol/fermentation in fruits and berries would have signaled peak ripeness/high sugar content (and thus a higher caloric density) to our evolutionary ancestors.

Given assertions made in dietary ecology re: caloric value/work trade-offs and evolution of hunter-gatherer societies, evolutionary psychologists have further speculated that the propensity to detect and consume those foods with a high caloric density (in this case, sugar and alcohol) were likely adaptive, those traits would have been selected for, the connections between the "thrifty genotype," predispositions to diabetes and alcoholism, and our modern world where concentrated forms of alcohol and refined sugars are readily available make a lot of sense.

Interesting stuff.
 
indians are also susceptible to alcohol abuse. Those darn whitemen!
 
processed foods are bad for you...why do you think acne and other irritating health problems are non existent in tribes/cultures that dont have a modern lifestyle/diet.
 
Im half San Carlos Apache and half Hopi. I work on the Salt River Pima reservation and there is an epidemic. It sucks because all of my co-workers are just about diabetic. I always think that I got lucky because my people are from isolated reservations to the north and east, and the Salt River Pima are right next to several major Arizona cities in the valley. I think that has a huge impact on the diet of the people, and not in a good way.
 
when your diet consists of "fry bread", powdered mash potatoes and other government boxed foods your chances of diabetes goes up.

that combined with the fact that your northern mexico brothers burn 2 times the calories you do by having to do work, it goes up even further.

check the difference in lifestyles, its shocking, their diabetes epidemic is a combination of many things and not just one thing. diet is most prevalent however, just think of the word "fry bread" lol, they still eat that crap knowing that their prevalence of diabetes is the highest in the world, couple that with the fact that their reservation only has one supermarket with fresh foods (i think), and lack of physical activity and you got a recipe for disaster.

note: they also have a leptin deficiency which regulates hunger also.
 
btw before you guys start blaming carbs, im pretty sure they were an agricultural society if memory serves me right (its been awhile) and they ate a grip of corn (which i think their relatives in mexico still eat alot of) and not so much meat.

their prevalence of diabetes went up when the US decided to dam off their water supply and give them boxed food when the pima indians couldn't grow their own food due to the lack of water.

recently (as in a few years ago) there were projects underway to restart their water supplies to they can grow their own food or something like that.

i may be wrong however, its been awhile since i looked at the pima indian studies.
 
Or it could turn out diabetes and even obesity are caused by some virus, and all the theories and diets based off them were just bogus.
 
i hope the last statement was a joke...
 
The gubment is killin' people.

Headlines:
"White flour found as murder weapon, white man to blame."
 
Hbs6 said:
i hope the last statement was a joke...
Click to expand...
oh scoff at me but the thrifty gene is ok?

While I was just talking out of my ass, viruses do turn out to cause lots of things. For example, many cancers and type 1 diabetes. And scientists are still arguing whether obesity is a cause or symptom.
 
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