What can we learn from the Yanomamo Indians?

20/1/2013

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans evolved on a diet that contained just a trace of salt. The Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon basin were first studied by Western society in the 1950s and provide an insight into what happens to blood pressure when salt consumption is extremely low. In the 1950's the Yanomamo were consuming a primative diet that contained <1g of salt a day. The most striking feature of this diet was that the blood pressure in the older Yanomamo was the same as that in the adolescents.

Salt is ubiquitous in food with 75% of daily salt intake hidden in processed food. There is abundant evidence from clinical trials indicating that a usual salt intake (3-4.5g per day) has adverse effects on the heart and blood vessels. A high salt diet predisposes to high blood pressure which leads to stroke and heart failure. A recent study looked at 17 mildly hypertensive adults randomised to 4 weeks of reduced (1.2-1.5g) or usual (3.6g) salt intake. BP pressure fell by 12mmHg and vascular function improved in subjects receiving the low salt diet. In this study the reduction in blood pressure caused by reducing salt intake is similar to the amount normally achieved by blood pressure medication.

It would be difficut to follow a Yanomamo diet but dietary salt reduction is possible by following the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet which reduces salt intake by about 50%. Implimentation of low salt diets requires action by politicians, food companies and retailers, as well as consumers. If salt intake could be reduced by 50% it is estimated that in the USA this would lead to 90,000 fewer heart attacks, 48,000 fewer strokes and save $18 billion each year.

We have known about the associaion between salt intake and blood pressure for many years and the evidence is growing to support a reduction in salt consumption to bring about positive health benefits. Pressure groups such as the Consensus Action on Salt and Health are trying to persuade all stakeholders to reduce salt and have made some important progress. Watch out for Salt Awareness Week (11-17th March 2013).

Jablonski KL. Racine ML. Geolfos CJ. Gates PE. Chonchol M. McQueen MB. Seals DS.
Dietary Sodium Restriction Reverses Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Middle-Aged/Older Adults With
Moderately Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013;61(3):335-343. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2012.09.010

Oliver WJ. Cohen EL and Neel JV.
Blood pressure, sodium intake, and sodium related hormones in the Yanomamo Indians, a "no-salt" culture.
Circulation. 1975 Jul;52(1):146-51.

2 Comments

Zoltan Sandor link

7/10/2015 03:16:29 pm

Here is an interesting new article in BMJ: The scientific report guiding the US dietary guidelines: is it scientific?
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4962
Ant this was my response:
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4962/rr-5
" We must feed ourselves according to maximum economy principle – but not the disorder – in our every cells. The maximum economy principle can be found in the composition of human milk, which is an evolutionary perfect food for babies (from every viewpoint). Naturally, the composition of the human milk is the perfect guide for adult nutrition (sodium/potassium ratio, ratio between sum of alkaline metals and sum of polyvalent metals, ratio between metals and energy content, etc.). The unnecessary sodium salts increase the incidence of every illnesses without any exception!
The evidences: In the scientific literature & media the salt has political- & a lot of pseudoscience but real science of salt we can find only in traces because it’s really CENSORED globally. It’s time to understand, teach & use some very important but forgotten & ignored knowledge; fundamental natural laws/facts & to see the sad reality. The spontaneous diffusion of Na ions into the cells & the diffusion of K ions out of the cells continuously enhance the entropy (disorder). The task of the Na/K pumps to keep constant the intracellular concentration of Na & K ions. These cellular pumps continuously use energy (ATP). Excess Na intake = excess diffusion = excess increase of entropy = excess work for pumps = excess energy expenditure against excess entropy > excess food consumption. But all the rest of our vital processes (functional processes of the cells) receive less energy because our capacity (to make energy from foods) is limited (Kleiber's law). Everything work worse in our body & this increases the incidence of all illnesses without any exception, our aging & devolution accelerate etc., this is why Na-salts are perfect foods of entropy. 10th ed. of RDA was the best recommendation ever, 500 mg/day Na! Sugars & fats are foods & are sources of energy. But entropy & Na intakes = five decades global censorship, corruption, pseudoscience & lack of real science. Excess Na intake significantly enhances the excess diffusion (excess entropy) because the surface (billions) of cells is extreme large, this is the main risk factor of diabetes 1-2, overweight, NCDs etc. & our devolution is a considerable fact too. The law of entropy is the fiercest enemy of life & is our fiercest enemy too. NaCl isn’t food for humans but is perfect food of entropy. Every mmol excess Na & the wrong Na/K ratio & other wrong ratios increase more the entropy in our every cell, but the specialists talk about these rarely or NEVER. Excess Na intake doesn’t increase the oxidative pathway, but a critical surplus switches the anaerobic glycolysis on, in our every cell & we produce cytotoxic lactic acid. This is the Sodium-Induced Cellular Anaerobic Glycolysis (Osaka et al. 2001., but the article was censored). All of our vital processes & organs work worse (heart, brain, regulating systems, immune system etc.) & our cells are dying. We haven’t enough energy & enough time for the regeneration because we enhance the entropy in our every cell, day by day, again & again. The average lifetime of our cells shortens. Faster the telomeres run out. Our aging accelerates. We get sick often & we will die soon. Logical consequence: the unnecessary salt increases the incidence of all illnesses without any exception! This is the no named Sodium-Induced Disorder Syndrome. The entropy law finds our weak point or points & ravages mainly there, but increases the disorder in every cell in our body. We are no uniform, so other risk factors & circumstances affect the individual consequences. The growing entropy is our number one public enemy on every level; physical & mental health & social level globally. The evolution of life on Earth, our history & our entire individual life is a continuous war against entropy. But we, humans started our devolution = the entropy is growing in human genome. Even we nourish the entropy in our every cell (fundamentals of our existence) but the health scientists don’t talk & write about this. This is really a fatal error. Non-communicable knowledge is too much in salt science, it’s time to change that, because we will die out within 250 years!
“The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in 1978 petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the generally recognized as safe status and limit salt, … It is unfortunate that government health authorities have not shown the will to act.” Source:
http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v71/n1/full/5001951a.html
But the CSPI is weak, because they don’t use the already existing knowledge. This is awesome guilty irresponsibility &/or astonishing ignorance. Optimal ratios & quantities are in human milk

Judy Jackson

5/11/2017 05:07:51 am

Makes alot of sense as I am recalling what salt does to snails when poured on them they dissolve quickly. We used to have them in early morning hours of summer on the ground. Therefore yes of course it stands to reason that it would also harm our cells in our bodies too.

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What can we learn from the Yanomamo Indians?

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