Daily energy expenditure and cardiovascular risk in Masai

[ReginaW]

Daily energy expenditure and cardiovascular risk in Masai, rural and urban Bantu Tanzanians

Br J Sports Med. 2008 Jun 3

Mbalilaki JA, Masesa Z, Strømme SB, Høstmark AT, Sundquist J, Wändell P, Rosengren A, Hellenius ML.

Background

Several studies have revealed that the Masai, pastoralists in Tanzania, have low rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite a diet high in saturated fat. It has also been suggested that they may be genetically protected. Recent studies detailing other potential protective factors, however, are lacking.

Methods

A cross-sectional investigation of 985 Tanzanians men and women (130 Masai, 371 rural Bantu and 484 urban Bantu) with mean age 46.0 [SD 9.3]. Anthropometric measures, blood pressure, serum lipids, and the reported dietary pattern and physical activity level were assessed.

Results

Eighty two percents of Masai subjects reported a high fat/low carbohydrate intake, whereas 77% of the rural Bantu subjects reported a low fat/high carbohydrate intake, and a high fat/high carbohydrate intake was the main dietary pattern of the urban Bantu group as reported by 55%.

The most conspicuous finding for the Masai was the extremely high energy expenditure, corresponding to 2565 kcal/day over basal requirements, compared to 1500 kcal/day in the rural and 891 kcal/day for the urban Bantu.

Mean body mass index among the Masai was lower than among the rural and urban Bantu.

Mean systolic blood pressure of the Masai was also lower compared to their rural and urban Bantu counterparts.

The Masai revealed a favourable lipid profile.

Conclusion

The potentially atherogenic diet among the Masai was not reflected in serum lipids and was offset probably by very high energy expenditure levels and low body weight.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18523037?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

[GypsyClare]

Or maybe a low carb/high fat diet is actually good for you! :lol:

[Baerdric]

Yeah, can't be that a low carb diet causes high activity and lean bodies along with low heart risk.

[Bat Spit]

can't be that a low carb diet causes high activity and lean bodies along with low heart risk

You took the words right out of my post.

Why is it most researchers all seem to be doing their studies with their fingers in their ears while chanting "LaLaLaLa!"?

[Wifezilla]

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PTGPOD/378777b~Chimpanzee-with-its-Fingers-in-its-Ears-Posters.jpg

[M Levac]

I thought insulin was atherogenic.

[ReginaW]

After reading the full-text of the paper, I blogged about the findings:

Dogmatic Conclusions to Make Your Head Spin (http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/2008/06/dogmatic-conclusions-to-make-your-head.html)

One of the oft repeated concerns about a carbohydrate restricted, high-fat diet is long-term effects. With globalization and a wide-variety of foods available in even remote locations today, it's increasingly difficult to find traditional populations whom may be ideally suited to assess the long-term effect of such a diet.

One such population does exist - the Masai of Africa - for whom meat, milk and blood are their daily dietary staples, a naturally low-carbohydrate diet that has been traditionally consumed for generations. They offer us a unique opportunity to assess how such a diet impacts the 'health risk markers' held dear in modern science and medicine.

Does their diet, high in fat, make them fat?

Does their diet, high in fat, make them hypertensive?

Does their diet, high in fat, lead to high cholesterol levels?

For decades many have assumed that a diet rich with dietary fat leads to obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which then is assumed to lead to heart disease and other chronic health problems.

In the June 3, 2008 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine a study investigating the Masai and their dietary habits and comparing them with rural and urban Bantu consuming different dietary practices is quite enlightening and tells us a story about how consuming dietary fat per se is not the underlying cause of obesity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

In the study published, Daily Energy Expenditure and Cardiovascular Risk in Masai, Rural and Urban Bantu Tanzanians, we learn that researchers investigated the dietary habits of three distinct populations within the same country - Tanzania - thus limiting confounding variables due to vastly different cultural conditions.

In total, the researchers investigated the health and health risk markers of 985 Tanzanian men and women - 130 Masai, 371 rural Bantu and 484 urban Bantu - with each group reporting very different dietary habits.

The Masai reported a high-fat, low-carbohydrate dietary pattern.

The rural Bantu reported a low-fat, high-carbohydrate dietary pattern.

The urban Bantu reported a high-fat, high-carbohydate dietary pattern, similar to a Western diet.

Which group to do think fared best?

BMI (average)

Masai = 20.7
Rural Bantu = 23.2
Urban Bantu = 27.4 (as a whole, the group was, on average, overweight)

Incidence of Obesity (BMI at or higher than 30)

Masai = 3%
Rural Bantu = 12%
Urban Bantu = 34%

Waist-Hip Ratio (lower is better)

Masai = 0.87
Rural Bantu = 0.89
Urban Bantu = 0.93

Blood Pressure

Masai = 118/71
Rural Bantu = 134/80
Urban Bantu = 134/82

Prevalence of Hypertention

Masai = 4%
Rural Bantu = 16%
Urban Bantu = 21%

Total Cholesterol

Masai = 3.89mmol/L (152mg/dl)
Rural Bantu = 3.60mmol/L (140mg/dl)
Urban Bantu = 4.50mmol/L (176mg/dl)

HDL (higher is better)

Masai = 1.08mmol/L (42mg/dl)
Rural Bantu = 0.91mmol/L (36mg/dl)
Urban Bantu = 1.08mmol/L (42mg/dl)

LDL

Masai = 2.09mmol/L (82mg/dl)
Rural Bantu = 2.13mmol/L (83mg/dl)
Urban Bantu = 2.69mmol/L (105mg/dl)

Triglycerides

Masai = 1.36mmol/L (121mg/dl)
Rural Bantu = 1.45mmol/L (129mg/dl)
Urban Bantu = 1.61mmol/L (143mg/dl)

Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio (less than 4 is 'ideal')

Masai = 3.72
Rural Bantu = 4.38
Urban Bantu = 4.53

LDL/HDL Ratio (the lower the better)

Masai = 2.21
Rural Bantu = 2.46
Urban Bantu = 2.69

ApoB/ApoA-1 Ratio (measure of LDL particle ratios, lower is better)

Masai = 0.74
Rural Bantu = 0.83
Urban Bantu = 0.81

So, there you have the major findings. What did the researchers conclude?

No! It couldn't possibly be their dietary habits, it must be that the "potentially atherogenic diet among the Masai was not reflected in serum lipids and was offset probably by very high energy expenditure levels and low body weight."

Now their level of physical activity certainly may be contributing to their overall health, but it's certainly not independent of their dietary habits. In fact, I would contend that while it's ideal to be active, that is not the driving force in 'health' or lack thereof - it's dietary habits that dominate our health outcomes, our level of activity may be important too, but activity in and of itself is no solution to a piss-poor diet.

We need, before activity, a proper diet to enable us to perform phyisical activity, not the other way around! So while the researchers here could not bring themselves to even consider that the habitual diet of the Masai - high-fat and low-carbohydrate - was the driving force in their good health and enabled high levels of activity, I'll say it!

Here we have evidence that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, consumed habitually does not lead to obesity, high blood pressure and dyslipidemia, and it may, in fact, lead to beneficial long-term health and increased levels of activity in those habitually eating such a diet.

[renegadiab]

Daily energy expenditure and cardiovascular risk in Masai, rural and urban Bantu Tanzanians

The potentially atherogenic diet among the Masai was not reflected in serum lipids and was offset probably by very high energy expenditure levels and low body weight.

It doesn't occur to them that maybe the diet is NOT atherogenic.

[paleodude]

You took the words right out of my post.

Why is it most researchers all seem to be doing their studies with their fingers in their ears while chanting "LaLaLaLa!"?

Because if their findings don't jive with preconceived notions they lose their funding and most of all media attention.

You see the same thing now going on in the great Global Warming Debate.
You hear all the time that man caused global warming is a settled fact and anyone who disagrees is either delusional or a paid oil company hack.
(the same way anyone who advocates a low carb diet, such as most recently Anthony Coplo is a paid meat industry hack)
You may have heard that 600 scientist signed onto a UN Climate Change Report. (Notice it is now Climate Change not global warming)
But you may not have heard some of them are complaining their reports are taken out of context. You may not have heard that 31,000 scientists have recently signed a petition stating that there is no significant evidence of human caused global warming.
You probably haven't heard that at least a dozen leading scientist have challenged Al Gore to debate the issue but his only reponse is that it doesn't matter he is not giving back the Nobel Prize.

[paleodude]

So, there you have the major findings. What did the researchers conclude?

No! It couldn't possibly be their dietary habits, it must be that the "potentially atherogenic diet among the Masai was not reflected in serum lipids and was offset probably by very high energy expenditure levels and low body weight."


If this is explained by their very high energy expenditure levels how about Jim Fixx who thought the same thing?

[ReginaW]

If this is explained by their very high energy expenditure levels how about Jim Fixx who thought the same thing?

Since I had no clue who Jim Fixx was I looked it up and wiki had these two paragraphs:

Fixx started running in 1967 at age 35. He weighed 240 pounds (=108.8 kilograms) and smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. Ten years later, when his book, Complete Book of Running (which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the best-seller list) was published, he was 60 pounds lighter and smoke-free. The book had inspired millions of people. In his books and on television talk shows, he extolled the benefits of physical exercise and how it considerably increased the average human being's life expectancy

[...]

Fixx died at the age of 52 of a massive heart attack, after his daily run, on Route 15 in Hardwick, Vermont. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 50%. Many who opposed his beliefs said this was proof running was harmful. However, Fixx came from a family where the men had poor health histories. His father suffered a heart attack at the age of 35 and died of one at 42. Given Fixx's unhealthy lifestyle until he took up running, many argued that running added many years to his life.

[ReginaW]

Many who opposed his beliefs said this was proof running was harmful.

LOL...maybe they should have concluded his diet was harmful?

[Baerdric]

Probably a low fat diet which sapped protein from his heart to fuel his running...

[Squarecube]

our level of activity may be important too, but activity in and of itself is no solution to a piss-poor diet.



I had to double check to see if I was reading Regina -- for a second there I thought Colpo or Eades had joined the list. :lol:

[paleodude]

Since I had no clue who Jim Fixx was I looked it up and wiki had these two paragraphs:

Fixx started running in 1967 at age 35. He weighed 240 pounds (=108.8 kilograms) and smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. Ten years later, when his book, Complete Book of Running (which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the best-seller list) was published, he was 60 pounds lighter and smoke-free. The book had inspired millions of people. In his books and on television talk shows, he extolled the benefits of physical exercise and how it considerably increased the average human being's life expectancy

[...]

Fixx died at the age of 52 of a massive heart attack, after his daily run, on Route 15 in Hardwick, Vermont. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 50%. Many who opposed his beliefs said this was proof running was harmful. However, Fixx came from a family where the men had poor health histories. His father suffered a heart attack at the age of 35 and died of one at 42. Given Fixx's unhealthy lifestyle until he took up running, many argued that running added many years to his life.
Jim Fixx also on those television shows claimed that because of his running he could eat anything that he wanted - that was the reason for a lot of the criticism. But Fixx didn't start the running craze that was done by Dr. Kenneth Cooper who coined the word Aerobics in 1968. Dr. Cooper is a high carb, low fat, food pyramid, avoid saturated fat advocate. It may just work for him as he is still running at age 77.

I am starting to believe that we are each genetically predisposed to a certain type of eating and exercise, whereas Dr. Cooper is perfectly healthy on his regimen it could be deadly for others.

[amandawood]

Or maybe a low carb/high fat diet is actually good for you! :lol:

Don't know whether this is the right way to do this, but I couldn't help noticing that you have given "The Coconut Diet" as your plan. Whose are you following and can you recommend it?`

I have noticed that I seem to lose weight faster if I add a little coconut oil and apple cider vinegar to my diet.

I know this is not relevant to the general post, so please forgive me everybody else.

By the way, the info on the Masai is fascinating. Since low-carbing, my BP has gone down to what theirs is. But I don't know whether I could hack the blood-and-milk diet...

amanda

[Wifezilla]

You might want to try the diet of the native diet of Tokelau atolls. 70% of all calories from coconut...the rest from fish and a little bit of veggies and fruit.

[Nancy LC]

You might want to try the diet of the native diet of Tokelau atolls. 70% of all calories from coconut...the rest from fish and a little bit of veggies and fruit.
Speaking of which, check this out: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/8/1552

[Wifezilla]

Thanks Nancy.

I know I did better on my 1 month Tokelau experiment. I need to get back to it but chicken and beef are way cheaper than fish. I am slowly building up my stock of cod, flounder, shrimp, etc...

I also found a place that sells #10 cans of coconut milk :D

Once I get stocked up, the Tokelau diet is pretty easy actually.

[lowcarbUgh]

I've spent some time in Palau and they eat a very similar diet. They all look very healthy until they smile. Practically everyone chews betel nut.

Very similar study done too:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/25/3/348.pdf