Study detects chronic diseases in Indigenous groups in Pará state

A study carried out by the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) has detected chronic metabolic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes type 2 in Indigenous groups in the Xingu and Marabá regions, in Pará state. Six communities have been analyzed, and disease cases have been detected in two of them.

Between 2007 and 2014, 628 Indigenous people from the Arara, Araweté, Asurini do Xingu, Parakanã, Xikrin do Bacajá, and Gavião Kyikatêjê groups were analyzed.

The research coordinator, physician, and doctor in Biological Sciences João Guerreiro has related chronic diseases not only to genetic predispositions but also to changes in the diet and lifestyle of the communities. The study is expected to be published in the journal Genetics and Molecular Biology this week.

“These alterations that we´ve studied - overweight, obesity, arterial hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemias - we consider them complex genetic diseases, in which there is a strong genetic component predisposing the occurrence of these alterations, but associated with this, there must be an environmental component that favors it," he explained.

For him, even with the genetic predisposition, it is necessary to acquire habits that favor the expression of these genes. “So, changes in behavior and eating patterns are certainly responsible for this epidemiological transition that we´ve been seeing in some Indigenous populations. The fact that they have become more sedentary, with less physical activity, also contributes to the arising of these diseases,” he explained.

Change of habits

The researcher mentioned new eating habits with high carbohydrate and processed foods intake, as well as food rich in sugar and fat, such as soft drinks and crackers have been introduced in the Indigenous diet.

He has also pointed out that infectious diseases, including respiratory and diarrheal diseases, were considered to be a risk of Indigenous mortality until recently. Now, chronic non-infectious diseases are starting to appear such as overweight, obesity, hypertension, diabetes. “And if nothing is done to try to contain this expansion, if no work is done to try to change eating habits and behaviors, it tends to get worse,” he warned.