There are people living in the Kashmir Valley that are renowned for their longevity, they are the Hunza. It is believed that they can live and do actually have a life span of up to one hundred forty years of age [140] or more. Birth certificates are quite likely unheard of in this mountain retreat, thought by some to be the origin of the legendary Shangri la, so verification of the ages is difficult. Medical experts who have studied the Hunza have made this age determination.
The main reason for death in the Hunza population is not from poverty or Western illnesses complete with pain, suffering and degeneration, but old age. Since the Hunza do not include animal products in their diet, saturated fats found in animal meats and linked to shorter life expectancy might be one reason they are so healthy. Eating these saturated fats can cause osteoporosis, cancer, gout, kidney stones, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, diseases associated with the colon and this is only a partial list. Eating red meat has been linked to high cholesterol and blood albumin and when these two are elevated, so too is the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The customary Hunza meal plan includes unprocessed whole foods deep in fiber; forty percent of their calories are from whole grains, thirty percent from veggies, fifteen percent from fruits, ten percent from legumes, four percent from nuts and seeds and just one percent from animal based products. The Hunza people also eat eighty percent of vegetables and one hundred percent of their fruit intake raw. Ten to fifteen percent of their full caloric content was derived from fat and yet there is no obesity – this low fat diet. No need for a western style diet plan here, these folks have been eating one for many years.
The attraction to the Hunza people started In the 1870s when the British were out scouting for their empire and a British army battalion descended on the Hunza River Valley. Western society has shown interest in this warrior people ever since at one time or another. They reside in a remarkably fertile valley that was cut off from the world for centuries. Travel to the Hunza people was quite treacherous as the only way there was via a twisting mountain trail called the most dangerous road in the world. It certainly would not be found on many trip ticks.
In 1960, Dr. Jay Hoffman was persuaded to visit the Hunza people by the United States National Geriatric Society to conduct a study of the health and longevity of the isolated tribal people. He wrote about his findings stating that through time man had searched fruitlessly for a fountain of youth to no avail but that one did exist in the Himalayan Mountains. A land where people do not suffer from the same illnesses as those in the west. In addition, there are not any hospitals, mental hospitals, no pharmacies or saloons, tobacco shops or police – so no jails, no murders, and no panhandling.
A different physician named Dr Paul Dudley White spent some time studying the Hunza tribe and conducted twenty five men he assumed to be between ninety and one hundred ten years old. Not in any of them could he detect a single indicator of coronary heart disease, hypertension or high cholesterol quantities. They all had 20- 20 eyesight and there was no tooth decay. He could not find any vascular, respiratory muscular bone or organic diseases in any of them!
Of course, the first thing that one asks about these people is what are they eating to stay so healthy?
- They do not consume too much meat at all and they do not have an abundance of pastureland.
- Meat and dairy foodstuffs combined makeup only one percent of their entire diet.
- Any protein or fat that they eat is coming from vegetables they consume.
- Their food intake is entirely based on natural foods and there are no processed, refined or manufactured foods in their diets.
- The majority of their diet is whole grains such as wheat, barley, millet and buckwheat.
- They eat copious amounts of vegetables, most specifically rich leafy greens [including mustard green, spinach as well as lettuce] and root veggies, and sprouted legumes and beans.
- They cultivate and harvest flaxseed [a very powerful form of omega 3 fatty acid] and nearly every meal has some form of freshly ground flax meal in it.
- They consume much of their food raw and in the summer months, as much as eighty percent of their diet is consumed in its innate form.
- Vegetable are always picked just before they are eaten and nearly always eaten raw.
- In winter months, the beans and lentils are soaked so they can be ingested as sprouts.
- When cooking vegetables they are usually steamed lightly in just limited amounts of water.
- Their diet is low caloric, whole food and plant based with an overall daily caloric value of 1900.
The Hunza food is grown on rich terraced gardens cultivated on the mountain side. It is irrigated by mineral laden waters, which flow from the mountains giving them the most fertile soil on the planet. They grow a broad assortment of fruits that are acclaimed as the best in the world for nutrients and flavor.
The longevity puzzle of the Hunza people most assuredly has more pieces to it than simply their meal plan. Living in a mountainous terrain means they get around by moving up or down the passes and their popular mode of transport is walking. They certainly get adequate exercise! However, there is some disconcerting evidence that the encroachment of the western civilizations has brought with it some disease. It just is not as pristine a society as it was only a few decades past.
The following was a chronological ancestral description of an aged Hunza elder’s progeny that stagger the imagination and makes the longevity claims of these people even harder to comprehend.
One Hunza man claiming to be 145 years of age was jumping and playing volleyball. He has a son that is 125 years of age. A grandson who is 105 years of age. Great grandson that is 85 years old. Great great grandson of 65 years of age. A great, great, great, grandson who is 45 years of age. Great, great, great, great, grandson that is 25 years of age. Finally, a great, great, great great, great grandson who is all of 5 years of age. Not a bad set of genes if this is accurate information.
Scientists say there is only one true way currently to achieve life extension as humans and that would be calorie restriction. It seems more study should be conducted on the Hunza people to understand why they are living into their hundreds and not getting sick with age associated diseases. It would be very difficult and expensive to duplicate the lifestyle of the Hunza in western society and it would never be completely copied. Industrialized nations mean having to contend with environmental toxins the Hunza do not have. All we can do to mimic them is eat as healthy as we can and get plenty of exercise. We already knew that though – did we not.
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Health And Aging, Longevity
Tue, Mar 9, 2010
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Health And Aging, Longevity