"The Secret Behind the so-called "Hispanic Health Paradox" by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Friends,

I'm re-posting this 2018 post to this blog titled, "The Secret Behind the so-called "Hispanic Paradox," a topic that I've followed over the years. I thought about it because of a piece I just came across in the Daily Texan titled, "Rice professor speaks on the health advantages of Latin American immigrants" which was unfortunately not too informative. What did stick out for me in that piece though is that the U.S. is deporting the healthiest Mexicans and Latinos in the U.S. population. That makes abundant sense to me and works against the ideal of a healthy workforce. Relatedly also read, In US, Hispanics outlive whites, blacks by years.

In the spirit of sharing and adding depth and context to this, I am happy to impart this blog post that I think gets to the heart of the phenomenon of the "Hispanic health paradox" that research has found.

Another way to think about this is that assimilation—and the globalization of the American high-calorie, high-sugar diet—is terrible for your health and that we are best served by our ancestors' excellent and truly delicious diet. In short, we must decolonize our diets not just as Latina/o/x people, but as society as a whole.

Enjoy!

-Angela Valenzuela

My aunt, "tía Brenda," from the mountains of Guerrero located in Southern Mexico just shared with me that the Indigenous people there eat tacos daily made of "pitija," "chipíl," and "guaje," with avocado and either a green chile or with a green chile salsa on corn tortilla that is delicious and good for the body. She said that native people there where she lives rarely get ill and that they live for many years.

I never heard of these ingredients. Not even sure if I heard or spelled "pitija," "chipíl," or "guaje," correctly. I got the impression that these were some combination of fruit, a type of bean, and herbs that grow in the region. (Please feel free to let me know by posting a reply on my blog below.) She promised to take me to eat a taco with her sometime, saying that they're truly satisfying and delicious.

She spoke to me about all of this in the context of a discussion on poverty and nutrition and how she thinks that so many of the maladies that she is seeing there in México, especially with the young, have to do with nutrition ("alimentación"), or a lack thereof.

The conversation made her free associate to the good, healthy food that native people in the area eat and how it preserves and maintains them.

Our conversation reminded me of a book titled, "Decolonize Your Diet,"  authored by  Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel.  Do check out this website for resources on how to do this. 

I covered this book on August 20, 2016 in a post titled, "Scientists unlock a secret to Latinos' longevity, with hopes of slowing aging for everyone.  

Captivating title, right?

Don't we all want to know the secret?!

// Drum roll. Drumbeat. 🥁♬ //

According to Dr. Steve Horvath, a bioinformatician at the University of California Los Angeles:

“It suggests that what gives Hispanics their advantage is really their Native American ancestry, because they share ancestry with these indigenous Americans.”

My tía was spot on this afternoon.

We all need to decolonize our diets, my friends. A K'iche’ friend of mine from Guatemala put it to me this way, "Eat food that you can breath through—or that can breathe through you."  Today, I subject a lot of food that I eat to that simple test.  

Do they eat or drink dairy or eat cheese? I asked my tía, as I downed my protein drink with whey in it.  "No," she said.  "None of that.  It's all from the ground—fresh, natural, and nutritious."

I thought that might be her answer.  "At least my drink is watery," I told myself, slightly embarrassed by my own question.  

Oh well...thought I'd ask.

So, much "food for thought" this evening. 😊

For an interesting read and other links, do read my thoughts and comments on the piece I link to herein.

I find indigeneity all so very interesting and very often, downright life-saving.

Angela Valenzuela

c/s

The Secret Behind the so-called "Hispanic Paradox" by Angela Valenzuela

My aunt, "tía Brenda," from the mountains of Guerrero located in Southern Mexico just shared with me that the indigenous people there eat tacos daily made of "pitija," "chipíl," and "guaje," with avocado and either a green chile or with a green chile salsa on corn tortilla that is delicious and good for the body. She said that native people there where she lives rarely get ill and that they live for many years.

I never heard of these ingredients. Not even sure if I heard or spelled "pitija," "chipíl," or "guaje," correctly. I got the impression that these were some combination of fruit, a type of bean, and herbs that grow in the region. (Please feel free to let me know by posting a reply on my blog below.) She promised to take me to eat a taco with her sometime, saying that they're truly satisfying and delicious.

She spoke to me about all of this in the context of a discussion on poverty and nutrition and how she thinks that so many of the maladies that she is seeing there in México, especially with the young, have to do with nutrition ("alimentación"), or a lack thereof.

The conversation made her free associate to the good, healthy food that native people in the area eat and how it preserves and maintains them.

Our conversation reminded me of a book titled, "Decolonize Your Diet,"  authored by  Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel.  Do check out this website for resources on how to do this. 

I covered this book on August 20, 2016 in a post titled, "Scientists unlock a secret to Latinos' longevity, with hopes of slowing aging for everyone.  

Captivating title, right?

Don't we all want to know the secret?!

// Drum roll. Drumbeat. 🥁♬ //

According to Dr. Steve Horvath, a bioinformatician at the University of California Los Angeles:

“It suggests that what gives Hispanics their advantage is really their Native American ancestry, because they share ancestry with these indigenous Americans.”

My tía was spot on this afternoon.

We all need to decolonize our diets, my friends. A K'iche’ friend of mine from Guatemala put it to me this way, "Eat food that you can breath through—or that can breathe through you."  Today, I subject a lot of food that I eat to that simple test.  

Do they eat or drink dairy or eat cheese? I asked my tía, as I downed my protein drink with whey in it.  "No," she said.  "None of that.  It's all from the ground—fresh, natural, and nutritious."

I thought that might be her answer.  "At least my drink is watery," I told myself, slightly embarrassed by my own question.  

Oh well...thought I'd ask.

So, much "food for thought" this evening. 😊

For an interesting read and other links, do read my thoughts and comments on the piece I link to herein.

I find indigeneity all so very interesting and very often, downright life-saving.

Angela Valenzuela

c/s

Very interesting research by UCLA bioinformatician Steve Horvath.  Thanks to Dr. Rudy Acuña for sharing.

Latinos' measured longevity, he finds, is largely genetic, but also related to levels of educational attainment.  This is what surprised me in this report:

Horvath emphasized that Latinos’ slower aging rate cannot be explained by lifestyle factors such as diet, socioeconomic status, education or obesity, because researchers adjusted for the influence of such factors.

They are of course referring to findings in populations so on an individual level, variation on such things matter.  Moreover, these findings do not at all mean that we shouldn't eat nutritiously, but rather to shed light on what has been termed, the Hispanic paradox,” which according Horvath,

“It suggests that what gives Hispanics their advantage is really their Native American ancestry, because they share ancestry with these indigenous Americans.”

Further worthy of note is the finding of beyond the age of 85 for African Americans, their lifespans tend to be longer than comparable whites.  

Barring the ravaging effects of colonization (for example, read this illuminating piece that advocates for food sovereignty for Native Americans in the U.S.), to this I would add that "sharing ancestry" is a living, breathing thing, too, since Mexican Americans and others that emanate from Central and South America often eat an ancestral diet.

Every time we eat a corn (not flour) taco, that's an indigenous meal.  The whole planet can thusly benefit from this diet and I encourage everyone to read this book titled, Decolonize your Diet by  Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel, and to also check out this website for more resources on how to do this.  

I personally try to consume nopales or nopalitos (cactus) regularly.  I use the small, tender leaves from my cactus in my garden to regularly make jugo verde (green juice) that you can read about here.  One of the ingredients, parsley, is also a natural teeth whitener.  I notice my teeth whiten with regular use.

Hope folks find this helpful.  I'm making me a jugo verde today!

Angela Valenzuela
c/s

Scientists unlock a secret to Latinos' longevity, with hopes of slowing aging for everyone

by Melissa Healy

August 19, 2016

A new way to measure how humans age suggests that Latino Americans withstand life’s wear and tear better than non-Latino whites — and that they may have their Native American ancestors to thank for their longer lives.

The findings offer some insight into a long-standing demographic mystery: Despite having higher rates of inflammation and such chronic diseases as obesity and diabetes, Latinos in the United States have a longer average lifespan than do non-Latino whites.

The research also helps answer questions about why some people die young while others live to old age, and what chronic diseases have to do with aging.

To get a handle on some of these thorny issues, UCLA bioinformatician Steve Horvath and his colleagues have been trying to devise a biological clock that measures age more comprehensively than simply counting up birthdays. Their method reflects the activity level of the epigenome, the set of signals that prompt one’s genes to change their function across a lifespan in response to new demands.

This “epigenetic clock” captures a key feature of aging: that as we grow older, there are complex but predictable changes in the rate at which our genes are switched on and off.

Continue reading here.




#NativeAmericans #FoodSovereignty #LatinoParadox #HispanicParadox #LatinoHealth