N=100,000 - Why not try to turn Tonga Keto?

(Rob) #1

I was watching Hawaii 5-0 and noticed that a couple of the actors who play native Hawaiians (e.g. Taylor Wily who plays Kamekona) were really massive, and not in a good way. Living in California I see both the very obese Pacific Islanders as well as the super athletic ones (I think the Rock is of Samoan descent and as a rugby fan, you don’t need to tell me about the huge, fast PI players) and started going down the google rabbit hole. I found this…


6 months ago I would have agreed with the headline premise but of course not now. As with many native populations, there is an obesity and diabetes epidemic (40% in Tonga - and if its 40% diagnosed… :flushed:).

My thought is this… with Keto growing in the US and Australia (both very influential to various pacific islands), wouldn’t it be a good idea to try to convince an island or 2 to do a grand Keto experiment to get them out of their horrendous health predicament and as a nice byproduct, prove Keto to the world?
They can keep eating the mutton flaps, spam, fatty fish etc. and cut out the SAD crap and I would assume, they’d become much healthier. Get the King on board and there could be some real traction.

While this is a little ‘pie in the sky’ talk, it surely has some merit?
Amongst the many things that now really get my goat in the media coverage of diet is the vilification of traditional diets and foods which is exceptionally tragic when applied to native populations who have negligible genetic adaptation to high carb WoEs. I know @Brenda is working with US First Nation people but we know how hard it is to fight the conventional wisdom and the authorities in the US in driving widespread Keto adoption.

(Ken) #2

There are several Islander families living in my small Iowa community. One of my sons dated one of their daughters in High School. Since we ate lipolytically at that time, he was able to assist her in losing all her excess body fat. She was a very beautiful girl when not overweight, like a girl in a travel magazine. The problem with the Islanders nutrition wise, is that they’re fascinated with Japanese culture, and massively over eat rice. And I mean massively. Even the non obese ones have diabetes, like the girlfriend’s father. Rice and fat. Carb-Fat combinations. The perfect storm for obesity and related health problems.

Needless to say, if they all gave up the rice, (other carbs as well) which was introduced into their diet only recently, they’d probably be just fine.

#3

Oof, that article is so frustrating. Thanks, @Capnbob

There’s something I’ve been meaning to link to on here and wondering if @NativeKetoMan and @Brenda might be interested or already know about. Robb Wolf is currently working (or will soon be working) with one of our First Nations groups in the US. I’ve loved hearing him talk about the project!

I think the tribe approached him because they’re working within one insurance group (or are self-insured?) and the medical costs were of course spiraling out of control because of incredibly high rates of obesity and diabetes. Robb Wolf feels that they’re in an unusually good position to make real changes. When I heard him talk about it, it was in the context of skyrocketing diabetes costs in the world in general, and when he talked about the Native group he mentioned some wonderful advantages

  1. they’re particularly motivated because it’s a small enough group that it was easier to see a connection with improved health/lowered cost and sustainable budget (in other words, it’s not a vague idea of increased health care costs but an immediate one that threatens the community - and by the same token it’s a relatively small enough group that change is feasible and can really help the insurance/budget question);

  2. there’s enough genetic and cultural similarity that it’s easier to find ways of eating that really work for the whole community;

  3. what European descendants call “ancestral” diet is kind of abstract, but for Native Americans it is - or can be - truly meaningful and much more tangible.

I’m writing too fast right now so I hope that all makes sense. I’ll try to find some links to podcasts and post them here.

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #4

No I have not. Thank you, I’ll look into it

#5

He definitely talks about it a bit in this episode:

https://robbwolf.com/2017/10/24/episode-376-chris-kresser-unconventional-medicine/