Scientists: Tsimane tribe members have the healthiest hearts and brains in the world

Scientists have concluded that the Tsimane tribe, who live in isolation in the Amazon rainforest, have the healthiest cardiovascular systems in the world and their brains age more slowly than those of North Americans or Europeans, the BBC reports.

The tribe numbers about 16,000 people. Like their ancestors, they live by hunting, gathering, fishing, and growing edible crops.

Scientists have been studying the health of this people for a long time and have made many unexpected discoveries.

The Tsimane spend less than 10% of their day sitting, while people in developed cities sit for about 54% of their time. Tsimane hunts last more than eight hours, during which they cover an average of 18 km.

The tribe lives on the Maniki River. From there, the nearest town is about 100 km by boat. They have very limited access to processed foods, alcohol and cigarettes.

Researchers found that fat makes up 14 percent of the average Tsimane’s daily diet, compared to 34 percent in the United States. They eat a lot of fiber, and 72 percent of their calories come from carbohydrates.

The protein portion of the Tsimane diet consists of meat from animals they hunt (mostly birds and monkeys) and fish. Food is usually not fried.

The indigenous people of the Amazon have attracted the attention of scientists from the University of California, who have noticed that elderly Tsimane do not suffer from age-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes or heart problems.

About five years ago, scientists performed CT scans on 705 Tsimane over the age of 40 and found that they had the lowest levels of coronary atherosclerosis of any known population. They also had a very low rate of heart disease.

Another study, published in 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, found that older Tsimane had 70% less brain atrophy than people of the same age in industrialized countries such as the UK, Japan and the US.