Protection ‘Built In’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31595, 5 February 1968, Page 2

Protection ‘Built In’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

EVANSTOWN (Illinois)

The people of East Africa’s Masai tribe have a unique built-in physical mechanism which protects them from the danger of heart attacks to which their diet of milk, meat and blood exposes them. Three scientists have reported that the Masai possess ah ability, never observed in Caucasians, to maintain a low level of cholesterol in their bodies in spite of their cholesterol-rich diet. Cholesterol, a principal body fat, is produced by several glands and serves to regulate the distribution of fluids. It is the parent compound from which many necessary hormones are made.

The presence of large quantities. of cholesterol in the blood is, however, believed to favour heart attacks. Cholesterol often forms a thick lining on the inside of blood vessels and in more extreme cases can cut off the blood supply which keeps the heart pumping. The three scientists found that the manufacture of cholesterol in the Masai is reduced by more than one-half When their intake of cholesterol in the diet increases. Dr C. Bruce Taylor and Dr Kang-Jey Jo, of the Northwestern University Medical School, and Dr Kurt Biss, of Dekalb, Illinois, say that this unique bodily function not only protects the Masai from coronary disabilities but also keeps them free from the accumulation Of body fat