"The Tarahumara Indians from Mexico have attracted special medical attention because of their remarkable physical endurance and their diet, which contains very little food from animal sources. They inhabit the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in the north-central state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Members of this tribe have an exceptional capacity for exercise. 12, 13 Scattered anthropological reports suggest that the diet of the Tarahumaras consists primarily of beans, corn, and squash. 12, 14* Connor, 15 evaluating 523 healthy Tarahumara, observed cholesterol intake to be 72 mg/day, while fat comprised only 12% of total calories. The mean plasma total cholesterol (TC) was 125 mg, and triglyceride was (TG) 120 mg/dl. They showed an excellent correlation between intake of cholesterol from 20 to 150 mg/dl and TC levels. Adult Tarahumara have low plasma TC levels, averaging 136 mg/dl. 16 In another study, the same authors enrolled eight Tarahumara men in a cholesterol-feeding experiment with two dietary periods of 3 weeks: first a baseline, cholesterol-free diet followed by a second one containing 1000 mg of cholesterol provided in the form of egg yolk. Other than different cholesterol content, the diets were identical, with the bulk of calories derived from corn and beans. Plasma cholesterol level increased from 113 to 134 mg/dl after feeding dietary cholesterol; LDL-C rose similarly.* This net increase of 34 mg/dl, or 30%, in plasma cholesterol was, roughly, similar to the changes already described in normocholesterolemic U.S. subjects having a different dietary background."
*Beans corns and squash are the North American native staples. In most "Indian" languages, they are known as the "three sisters".
* dietary cholesterol increases serum or blood cholesterol levels. my, my... what ho Time Magazine and many modern pundits. So the Russian Doctors in 1890 and myriads of physicians, not to mention scientific studies on exogenous oxidized cholesterol were ...~shudder, gasp*, right!? "The horror Mistah Kurtz, the horror? We have travelled the artery of darkness on the SS Foodaholic and arrived at the Plaque jungle and we scarce know how we got into this mess.." (Humblest Apologia to Joseph Conrad.) |
