Kuna Indian Secret

Of course, there are other healthy drinks, too. Consider the Kuna Indians, who live on islands off of Panama—one of the healthiest populations on Earth; 20 times less heart disease compared to us; 20 times less cancer. And it’s not their genes. When they move to the mainland and start eating a typical Western diet, their chronic disease rates skyrocket.

Scientists don’t think it’s what they eat, though, but what they drink. What’s their secret? Every day, they drink more than five cups of which one of these? Açai berry juice, cocoa, yerba maté tea out of a gourd, quechua—a fermented drink made out of quinoa sprouts, or, do you think they’re so healthy because they drink so much spirulina?

I’ll give you a hint: it’s not because they keep such adorable pigs as pets.

What do you think? Well, it’s not the quechua—because there’s no such thing. I just made that up. It’s not spirulina, and maté may actually increase our cancer risk.

Nearly all these people drink in this tropical climate is cup after cup of cocoa!

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• Bayard V, Chamorro F, Motta J, Hollenberg NK. Does Flavanol Intake Influence Mortality from Nitric Oxide-Dependent Processes? Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cancer in Panama. Int J Med Sci. 2007 Jan 27;4(1):53-8.
• Hollenberg NK, Fisher ND, McCullough ML. Flavanols, the Kuna, cocoa consumption, and nitric oxide. J Am Soc Hypertens. 2009 Mar-Apr;3(2):105-12.

Image thanks to Angelfire/Virginia Hirons

• bayas de açai
• brotes
• cacao
• cáncer
• enfermedad cardiaca
• enfermedad cardiovascular
• espirulina
• frutos rojos
• indígenas Kuna
• quinoa
• yerba mate