SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 28 (UPI) -- Hunter-gatherers who live
off the land have lower age-related increases in blood pressure
and less risks of atherosclerosis, U.S. researchers say. Study
author Michael Gurven, an anthropology professor and chairman of
the University of California-Santa Barbara's Integrative
Anthropological Sciences Unit, and colleagues tracked 2,296
indigenous adults in 82 Tsimane villages, an area in the
tropical lowlands of Bolivia's Amazon basin. Tsimane are lowland
forager-horticulturalists -- population estimated at 11,000 --
subsisting on plantains, rice, corn, manioc, fish and hunted
game. "The Tsimane living conditions are similar to those of our
ancestors, with greater exposure to pathogens, active lifestyle,
high fertility and traditional diet. Studying chronic diseases
in these populations can be very insightful," Gurven said in a
statement. "Per decade, Tsimane women had a systolic blood
pressure increase of 2.86 millimeter of mercury and a diastolic
blood pressure increase o