The Latino and Asian Indian heart disease paradox

[Long Duck Dong]

I always assumed northern Europeans and Asians would have less heart disease than other races because of their(our) ancestors reliance of red meat in their diets for millennia . I was shocked to realize I was dead wrong.

Latinos and native Americans have much lower prevalence of heart disease than all major races despite having more risk factors than practically any other race other than American blacks. I guess this is known as the Latino CVD paradox.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the Asian Indian CVD paradox. They eat very little meat and are extremely susceptible to fatal heart disease.


Although CVD is the leading cause of death among Hispanic adults, overall rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) and overall cardiac mortality are lower compared to non-Hispanics. This increasingly robust observation combined with the significant growth of the Latino population fuels a need for greater understanding of CVD specifically among Latinos in order to appropriately model risk, identify resilience, and improve targeting of intervention efforts with broader economic and health implications for the nation as a whole.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4943843/

Sometimes what seems like common sense doesn't correlate with science and collected data. Hispanics tend to be fat and eat a lot of red meat yet are at less much risk than Indians who eat very little red meat and tend to be a lot skinnier.

[Patrick Chewing]

About to go eat a steak tonight in honor of this new discovery.

Highweight is about to eat his second burrito for dinner in honor of this new discovery.

[highwhey]

@jstern, can you please expand further?

[FultzNationRISE]

Native Americans I always picture running around the vast American landscape, chasing buffaloes with tomahawks and arrows, dancing all night around the campfire, relaying messages a long distance by courier from one tribe to another. And of course today sports like futbol are a very common thing in these countries. A short but robust people. I could see strong cardiovascular health being in the genes, despite the current changes to lifestyle and health.

India on the other hand feels more about setting fish traps in the ganges river, meditating at a temple, even their national sport is a fairly stationary one (cricket). Indian people I frankly picture as the least athletically inclined population on the planet. A lot of skinny-fat kinda builds. So maybe they just never developed heart strength on par with other groups.

[ShawkFactory]

Native Americans I always picture running around the vast American landscape, chasing buffaloes with tomahawks and arrows, dancing all night around the campfire, relaying messages a long distance by courier from one tribe to another. And of course today sports like futbol are a very common thing in these countries. A short but robust people. I could see strong cardiovascular health being in the genes, despite the current changes to lifestyle and health.

India on the other hand feels more about setting fish traps in the ganges river, meditating at a temple, even their national sport is a fairly stationary one (cricket). Indian people I frankly picture as the least athletically inclined population on the planet. A lot of skinny-fat kinda builds. So maybe they just never developed heart strength on par with other groups.

Probably something like this. Red meat is a risk factor for heart disease, not a straight-up cause. If you supplement a red meat heavy diet with a lot of exercise then the risk decreases significantly.

[jstern]

@jstern, can you please expand further?

I read the OP before anybody commented, and I instantly knew the answer. But I didn't want to comment.

If a group has been eating a lot of red meat, for many generations, then those who wouldn't thrive simply didn't reproduce as much. The group that hasn't been eating lots of red meat for generations, wouldn't have the problem of many in their population not thriving due to the red meat.

[rawimpact]

The only other culture that may eat more carbs than asian indians is maybe italians...

Cholesterol is what kills asian indians. Their diet is primarily carbs... part of that has to do with religion and the other money.

Like someone above said, you're comparing apples to oranges.

[Atlantis]

The poster who said they'll eat a steak isn't getting what the op shared.

BOTH Mexicans and Americans eat lots of red meat.

It's not what's the same about their respective diets that accounts for the difference. It has to be what's different - it's either 1) what the Mexicans are doing that the Americans aren't, 2) what the Mexicans aren't doing that the Americans are.

I'm not going to speculate on what explanations fall under 2), but as for the first one, what Mexicans are eating that Americans aren't eating much of - it's
1) tortillas (specifically corn, not flour) which is the Mexican staple food
2) beans
3) spicy foods (chili peppers are native to Mexico), most Americans don't eat spicy foods a lot.

Since Americans eat a little bit of corn..I would suggest that beans and spicy foods are the central difference explaining why Mexicans are healthier than Americans.

There's already a lot of studies that show that spicy foods are good for you, and also for beans.

Why do Indians get CVD more? No idea...I'll have to think about that more...