Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Ecuadorean Villagers May Hold Secret to Longevity


NYTimes hat tip to Joseph

People living in remote villages in Ecuador have a mutation that some biologists say may throw light on human longevity and ways to increase it.

The villagers are very small, generally less than three and a half feet tall, and have a rare condition known as Laron syndrome or Laron-type dwarfism. They are probably the descendants of conversos, Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who were forced to convert to Christianity in the 1490s but were nonetheless persecuted in the Inquisition. They are also almost completely free of two age-related diseases, cancer and diabetes. [...]


1 comment:

  1. Actually, there are many groups around the world free of cancer and diabetes. At least they were prior to adopting the modern Western diet which typically includes large amounts of sugar and refined flours. In many native cultures, the eskimos spring to mind, cancer, diabetes and heart disease were virtually unknown. This can be verified by web search. Many sites dedicated to low carb diets give various sources. Gary Taubes "Why We Get Fat" discusses this at length ( warning: contains a few untznius medical photos).

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