Indigenous people ‘attuned’ to chronic disease risks

研究人员发现，[Quito和Sao Paulo]研究人员发现，厄瓜多尔北部的土著社区担心其族裔癌症率的上升，并“适应”该疾病背后的全球现象。

A study carried out in two Kichwa communities located in the province of Imbabura, in the north of the country, found that villagers believe cancer rates are rising due to the use of chemical products, pollution, urbanization, lifestyle changes, as well as the increase of westernized diets and erosion of their culture.

“我们的发现表明,开凿知道of global phenomena in which the traditional diet has been replaced by western, processed foods and fast food, which result in higher levels of chronic diseases such as cancer," concludes the study, published in the journal Ethnicity & Health this month (July 4).

先前的研究表明，包括癌症，糖尿病和心血管疾病在内的慢性疾病正在增加。但是，没有研究能够量化厄瓜多尔土著人口中的癌症发病率和死亡率。

This population is mostly concerned about cancers that affect the breast, prostate and stomach, as well as leukaemia, cervical and uterine cancers. These coincide with types of cancer that are most frequent in Ecuador, but there are no records of their incidence by ethnic group or specifically for indigenous people.

One of the scientists involved in the research, Enrique Terán from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), acknowledges that more research is needed to understand the burden of cancer among the indigenous peoples of Ecuador and throughout Latin America.

但他还指出，根据该国可用的信息，其中大多数是关于亚马逊的土著人民，“石油剥削和污染是主要问题”。

Terán告诉Scidev.net说：“我们的研究清楚地表明，对于土著安第斯人口，癌症被视为一个新的问题。我们必须首先确定危险因素并寻找其管理的机制和策略。”

A separate study has found that in Brazil, sedentary lifestyles and consumption of ultra-processed foods is boosting cases of metabolic syndrome among the Xavante, one of the largest indigenous groups of the country.

通过分析2008年至2012年之间20岁或20岁以上的948名Xavante人，一组研究人员发现，有66％的人患有代谢综合征，该术语描述了疾病（例如腰部高血压和多余的脂肪），这会增加风险患有糖尿病和心血管疾病。

“我们的研究清楚地表明土著Andean population, cancer is [seen as] an emerging problem. We must begin by identifying the risk factors and look for mechanisms and strategies for their management.”

Enrique Terán

In a follow-up study two years later, the researchers found that of the 948 Xavante people previously evaluated, 246 had developed type-2 diabetes, a condition where blood sugar levels are too high because the body fails to produce insulin or use it effectively.

The studies were published in Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome in 2015 and in June of this year, respectively.

Eye tests showed that 27 of the diabetes patients already had diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness. According to According to Laercio Joel Franco, a co-author of the studies, evidence of the eye disease indicates that this ethnic group is developing other complications from chronic diabetes, such as nephropathy which can lead to kidney failure. The study calls for action to improve diabetes control.

“These populations do not have cultural conditions that allow themselves the regular application of insulin," added Franco, who is a physician at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sao Paulo.

Traditionally a hunter-gatherer tribe, the Xavante Indians started to settle in parts of Mato Grosso state, in central Brazil, in 1957 due to conflicts with farmers who moved into the area.

The researchers also note that over the last few decades they have edged closer to nearby cities and begun to incorporate industrialised foods in their diets, especially soft drinks and foods high in sugar, fat and salt. They also stopped traditional, intense physical activities.

佛朗哥补充说，Xavantes饮食的变化也是由于政府政策“有利于放弃传统作物”。

“Many [indigenous people] are still unaware of the scale of the problem [chronic disease] and the risks this habit [unhealthy lifestyle] poses to their health,” says Luana Padua Soares, a nutritionist at the Uberlandia Federal University’s School of Medicine and a main author of the first study on the Xavante people.

What is being observed in this population may be part of a larger epidemiological trend, according to Lalucha Mazzucchetti, a nutritionist at University of Southern Santa Catarina in Brazil. “There is an on-going process of changing in indigenous people’s eating habits all over Latin America, marked by the increasing presence of industrialised foods in their villages,” she says.

“In cases where there is demarcation of land [for use by indigenous groups]or difficulty in planting [and] harvesting [crops] or hunting, the adoption of food products that were not [traditionally] common often ends up being intensified, and may cause more health problems,” she adds.

Mazzucchetti is the main author of a study, published in the Brazilian scientific journal Cadernos de Saúde Pública, on the incidence of metabolic syndrome in the Khisêdjê indigenous group of central Brazil. After evaluating 170 people of 20 years or older, her team found that 27.8 per cent had metabolic syndrome, which is also related to the excessive consumption of industrialized foods.据《纽约时报》报道，巴西工业化食品的销量在10年内翻了一番以上。根据该报告，在过去的几十年中，希望扩大包装食品市场的跨国食品公司在发展中国家发现了一个市场利基市场。

在一个例子中，跨国食品公司雀巢赞助了一条河驳船，该河驳船向巴西亚马逊盆地的孤立社区运送了超级加工的食品，直到2017年7月该船退休。今天满足。Mazzucchetti说，这要求政府采取行动来实施健康计划。

The studies published in Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome were both supported by FAPESP, one of SciDev.Net’s donors.