Indigenous Amazonians have just 1% dementia rates. Why?

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What we do know is the sedentary, urban, industrial life is quite novel when compared with how our ancestors lived for more than 99 percent of humanity’s existence.

 

(David Nield/ Science Alert) — We know about the devastating effect that Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia can have on people – but what’s less clear is how they get started in the brain and what can be done to cure them or prevent them from happening in the first place.

Some clues could be found amongst indigenous people who live in the Amazon rainforest. In a new study, two of these tribes have turned out to have some of the lowest rates of dementia in the world.

One of the suggestions prompted by such a discovery is the idea that there might be something in our post-industrial life that brings on higher rates of these brain disorders. While it doesn’t mean we should all take up hunting and gathering, it’s a consideration for those studying dementia and its impact. (…)

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