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. 2013;8(1):e55679.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055679. Epub 2013 Jan 31.

Physical activity and modernization among Bolivian Amerindians

Michael Gurven  1 , Adrian V Jaeggi, Hillard Kaplan, Daniel Cummings
Affiliations

Physical activity and modernization among Bolivian Amerindians

Michael Gurven et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Physical inactivity is a growing public health problem, and the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Conversely, indigenous populations living traditional lifestyles reportedly engage in vigorous daily activity that is protective against non-communicable diseases. Here we analyze physical activity patterns among the Tsimane, forager-horticulturalists of Amazonian Bolivia with minimal heart disease and diabetes. We assess age patterns of adult activity among men and women, test whether modernization affects activity levels, and examine whether nascent obesity is associated with reduced activity.

Methods and findings: A factorial method based on a large sample of behavioral observations was employed to estimate effects of age, sex, body mass index, and modernization variables on physical activity ratio (PAR), the ratio of total energy expenditure to basal metabolic rate. Accelerometry combined with heart rate monitoring was compared to the factorial method and used for nighttime sampling. Tsimane men and women display 24 hr physical activity level (PAL) of 2.02-2.15 and 1.73-1.85, respectively. Little time was spent "sedentary", whereas most activity was light to moderate, rather than vigorous. Activity peaks by the late twenties in men, and declines thereafter, but remains constant among women after the early teens. Neither BMI, fat free mass or body fat percentage are associated with PAR. There was no negative effect of modernization on physical activity.

Conclusions: Tsimane display relatively high PALs typical of other subsistence populations, but of moderate intensity, and not outside the range of developed populations. Despite rapidly increasing socioeconomic change, there is little evidence that total activity has yet been affected. Overweight and obesity are more prevalent among women than men, and Spanish fluency is associated with greater obesity in women. The lack of cardiovascular disease among Tsimane is unlikely caused by activity alone; further study of diet, food intake and infectious disease is needed.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Daily time (hrs/day) men and women spend in productive labor a) outside the household and b) domestic labor inside the household, based on time allocation sampling from 7am–7pm (see text).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Physical activity ratios (PARs) based on factorial method clustered into categories of activity intensity.
(a) Average time spent by PAR intensity for males and females (7am–7pm). (b) PAR intensity categories by time of day for adults (20+) only.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Mean physical activity ratio (PAR) by age and sex.
Each data point represents one individual. PARs are derived from the factorial method, based only on observations from 7am–7pm (see text). The displayed curves are loess fits with 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Hours per day by activity level, from accelerometry.
Shown separately for men and women and for daytime (7am–7pm) and nighttime (7pm–7am) intervals. See text for definition of activity level categories.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Predicted values of (a) PAR by age, sex, and region, and (b) BMI by age, sex, and Spanish fluency based on Model 2 in Table 3 and 4 , respectively.
All other variables held at baseline or population average.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Physical activity levels (PALs) from a compendium of populations, shown separately for developing (low or middle Human Development Index (HDI) populations) and developed societies (high HDI) .
Tsimane are represented as the green triangle. Mean PAL for developing societies is 1.88 (men) and 1.70 (women), for developed societies is 1.79 (men) and 1.71 (women).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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