Kitava

A Heavy Smoking Gun

On my recent post:

https://theheartattackdiet.substack.com/p/heart-disease-and-pufas

marthinwurer commented:

Be a good rationalist, and make testable predictions for your proposed mechanism. How would you test the Atherosclerosis filled with PUFAs hypothesis?

And I replied:

A good call! I think I strongly predict that a population that smokes heavily but doesn't consume PUFAs won't suffer from heart disease much, although they will have lots of harmless atherosclerotic plaques in their arteries.

I don't know if such a population exists, I wonder if there was one in Victorian times?

Or maybe some Amish-like people who don't eat PUFA-filled foods but do smoke for some reason?

Also totally clearing PUFAs from your system *might* allow the damage to heal, as unstable plaques oxidise and are repaired with more stable fats. So maybe ten years after forswearing all polyunsaturated evil your blood pressure might start to come back down or at least stop rising?

So I have been on the qui vive for such a people, and behold:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitava

https://web.archive.org/web/20131207163839/http://www.staffanlindeberg.com/TheKitavaStudy.html

https://bmccardiovascdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12872-020-01812-7

Seek, and ye shall find.

Some Selected Quotes From the Above Links

Kitava is one of the four major islands in the Trobriand Islands archipelago group of the Solomon Sea, located in Milne Bay Province of southeastern Papua New Guinea.

The inhabitants of this island and their lifestyle and diet have been the subject of study by researcher Staffan Lindeberg and his colleagues, due to their reported excellent health and traditional diet.

The prevalence of smoking and betel chewing among adults was 76% and 100%, respectively and serology indicated a high parasitic and infectious burden.

At the time of study, the Kitavans were horticulturalists (i.e. traditional farmers of tubers and fruits) and dietary staples were cultivated tubers (mainly yam, sweet potato and taro, but also small amounts of cassava), supplemented by fruits, leaves, nuts (including coconut), fish, maize and beans

In this study we report complementary results on CRP from the Melanesian population of Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, among whom we have previously reported an apparent absence of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Despite a fair number of older residents, none of whom showed signs of dementia or poor memory, the only cases of sudden death the residents could recall were accidents such as drowning or falling from a coconut tree. Homicide also occured, often during conflicts over land or mates. Infections (primarily malaria), accidents, pregnancy complications, and old age were the dominant causes of death, which is in agreement with findings among other similar populations. Child mortality from malaria and other infections was relatively high, and the average lifespan was around 45 years. The remaining life expectancy at 45 years of age is more difficult to determine, but may be similar to Swedish figures.

The elderly residents of Kitava generally remain quite active up until the very end, when they begin to suffer fatigue for a few days and then die from what appears to be an infection or some type of rapid degeneration. Although this is seen in western societies, it is relatively rare in elderly vital people. The quality of life among the oldest residents thus appeared to be good in the Trobriand Islands.

The main results of the Kitava study, that there is no ischaemic heart disease (and no stroke, see Chapter 4.2), are unanimously confirmed by medical experts with knowledge of the Trobriand Islands or other parts of Melanesia. Likewise, Jüptner noted no cases of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or sudden death during his 5 years as a provincial doctor on the islands at the beginning of the 1960s, when the population was roughly 12,000.

Due to the high level of coconut consumption, saturated fat made up an equally large portion of the overall caloric intake as is the case in Sweden. However, lauric acid was the dominant dietary saturated fatty acid as opposed to palmitic acid in Sweden. Malnutrition and famine did not seem to occur.

No indications of stroke, diabetes, dementia or congestive heart failure

No overweight

Excellent blood pressure

No acne