A while back,in a thread about nutrition, Dana Carpender asserted that the Masai in Kenya subsist on a diet of milk and beef blood, “and they do okay,” despite all that fat and cholesterol. Last week, I got around to checking. My nephew is an ophthalmologist, and he’s doing volunteer work at a clinic in Tenwek, Kenya. Many of his patients are Masai, and I figured he’d know the answers. His letter follows:
Dear Ken,
I am sorry to hear you were ill, but am glad to know you are better.
You ask an interesting question about the Masai (Maasai, Masaii, Masaai- I have seen all of these spellings). Their primary concern in life is water,from the cradle to the grave. And the grave tends to be early. They die
from injury: cape-buffalo gorings, violence from other humans (bows and arrows, spears). (They don’t die from lions, however. The lions know and fear a Masai. I don’t know how, but it’s true. Each Masai boy at around age 12 goes through a circumcision ritual, and at that time the group of boys goes out into the plain and don’t return until they bring back a lion they have killed.) They die from infection: from child-hood diseases that Americans are immunized for (Soap-box: only in America do people have the gall and stupidity to choose NOT to immunize their children), from TB, malaria, cholera, typhoid, meningitis, pneumonia, appendicitis, childbirth, etc. In times of drought, they die from hunger and thirst. In times of
good rain, the women and children walk for many kilometers every day to collect water. Basic hygiene is non- existent. Why waste water to wash when you need it to drink? LIfe is all about rain and water. So most don’t live long enough to die from heart-disease or cancer. The ones that do live long never die from them because they would never seek medical care to have
that diagnosed. My guess is that they have little to no athersclerosis based on diet and lifestyle (walking 20 km or so every day). Cancer would never be diagnosed or treated. They would die in their homes in the plains.
So far AIDS has not entered the Masai population in a large way. When it does, they will be in big trouble given their polygamy and cultural allowances. (A Masai man is allowed to “stake his spear” outside any woman’s hut that is of his age, or circumcision “class”, and visit her. If she bears children by that visitor, the children are considered her
husband’s, even if he is dead.)
They are herdsmen. So cattle play a central role in their existence. They believe all cows belong to them. One of the missionaries out in Masai-land full time once showed them a picture of a huge American dairy farm or Montana cattle ranch with thousands of head of cattle. The Masai
replied, “Where are those cows? They are ours.” Milk is a staple (non-pasteurized, un-homogenized). Meat is unusual, or for special occasions. If you butcher your cattle, your number decreases. Wealth is based on number of cows (also goats and sheep). There are specific rules on how many wives you can have based on how many cows you have. They do drink blood and milk, but not as a staple. Just in traditions and rituals. I don’t think I would begin a meat-milk-blood diet for health reasons based on the Masai. They are skinny and tall. In large part that is due to a very small diet (small as in variety and in volume). Any American in their circumstances would be hungry and thirsty and dirty and soon skinny. People lose weight by having a caloric intake less than their caloric expenditure. Plain and simple. Try eating a handful of grain, with a little bit of milk, and a cup or so of water and walk 20 or so km a day, and I’m most assured the fat American will see pounds off!
Anyway, this should give you some fuel for your discussions.
Blessings,
David
Now you know as much about the Masaai as I do, a lot more than I knew yesterday.
Fighting my own ignorance,
Nott