# SPAM Deadly To Polynisian People?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 3, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967 "2004-12-03T21:48:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/1 "2004-12-03T21:48:57Z")
I read once (think it was one of Paul Theroux’ books) that the people inhabiting the South Pacific islands are prone to obesity. They were quite healthy on a diet of fish, taro, and coconuts, but when they switched to western foods (including canned meats like spam), they got fat.
Anecdotally, I find this to be partially true…many of the native people of this region now suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure…and Theroux mentions that these people have developed a big apetite for spam. He recounted that young peopel would avod fresh fish, in preference for a can of spam-and that the mafg. had made up a special version for the South Pacific trade-containing MORE fa and salt than the USA version.
Is this true? Is western food deadly for these people? And, is there something to this theory (that very salty, high-fat meats are addictive)? That is what some nutritionists are claiming about fast food-that these types of foods actually cause an addiction.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/2 "2004-12-03T22:16:34Z")
Native Americans are much more prone to diabetes with a modern high fat diet than anglos so I don’t find it at all suprising that the same may be true of polynesians. I think “Indian” fry bread has killed more Indians than the 7th Cavalry.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/3 "2004-12-03T22:42:13Z")
I’ve been told by a California Indian (Yurok) friend of mine that Spam is also very popular among those folks. She liked it. I too an ocasional a Spam eater. Fried, with mayo and sourdough bread. :eek:
I’ve been to Hawaii a few times, in the 60’s, and Spam was indeed popular then. But so was a lot of “western” food, including beef and pork. There were a lot of hamburger stands, as I recall.
Peace,
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/4 "2004-12-03T22:48:27Z")
> [@Padeye](#):
>
> Native Americans are much more prone to diabetes with a modern high fat diet than anglos so I don’t find it at all suprising that the same may be true of polynesians. I think “Indian” fry bread has killed more Indians than the 7th Cavalry.
Only because it’s had a lot more time, **Padeye**.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/5 "2004-12-03T22:58:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> They were quite healthy on a diet of fish, taro, and coconuts, but when they switched to western foods (including canned meats like spam), they got fat.
In that sense, isn’t modern Western food “deadly” to everyone including Westerners? Or are you saying obesity a more serious problem in Polynesian nations than in the US?
> [@](#):
>
> He recounted that young peopel would avod fresh fish, in preference for a can of spam…
That doesn’t sound any different from young people in the West.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/6 "2004-12-03T23:21:22Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> In that sense, isn’t modern Western food “deadly” to everyone including Westerners? Or are you saying obesity a more serious problem in Polynesian nations than in the US?
I believe that Polynesians are in fact relatively more prone to obesity than many other populations. Although speculative, it is possible this could have been adaptive in early colonizing populations.
One example of an article on the topic:
[Obesity in Samoans and a perspective on its etiology in Polynesians](http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/53/6/1586S)
> [@](#):
>
> Massive adiposity and high prevalence of obesity characterizes modernizing adult Samoans. Mean body mass index (in kg/m2) at ages 25-54 y is 30-32 for males and 32-36 for females. Prevalence of overweight in female adults is 46% in traditional Western Samoans and 80% in migrants in Hawaii. . . .An evolutionary perspective on Polynesian adiposity is based on scenarios of the fates of sailors on the voyages of discovery and of settlers in the pioneer island villages. Efficient metabolisms producing rapid adipose-tissue growth could have increased survival among the first Polynesians. Rapid dietary and physical activity changes caused by modernization interacting with such population genetic predispositions may lead to the documented massive adiposity.
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/7 "2004-12-03T23:26:20Z")
IIRC, SPAM sells more per capita in Hawaii than in any other US state.
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### Author:  [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/8 "2004-12-03T23:38:57Z")
I’ve noticed that in Samoa, from what i’ve seen islanders there are relatively svelte. However, most of the Samoans i’ve met or known here in the states were either big, or obese. I imagine it’s not easy to eat just their traditional foods and any Americanized people are going to be eating what everyone else is too.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/9 "2004-12-03T23:49:42Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#):
>
> IIRC, SPAM sells more per capita in Hawaii than in any other US state.
Supposedly it goes great with poi. I’ve not had it so I don’t know. Many island peoples have had for most of their history a very narrow diet, so their bodies have adapted to those diets, and when you start giving them access to foods not normally found in their diets, health problems can be created. It doesn’t even have to be some highly processed food like Spam. A good portion of the world is lactose intolerant after a certain age, simply because they didn’t live in a climate where it was possible to store milk (until the invention of refridgeration), so once they stopped breast feeding, they lost the ability to digest dairy products.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/10 "2004-12-03T23:57:14Z")
IIRC, many Polynesians were pretty chubby when whats-his-name arrived there. There can be a lot of fat in seafood and calories in fruits/veggies.
Comely _means_ “fat”, right?
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/11 "2004-12-04T00:03:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> and that the mafg. had made up a special version for the South Pacific trade-containing MORE fa and salt than the USA version.
> Is this true?
No, it is **false**.
I’m from Minnesota, and I have friends who work at the Hormel plant in Austin, MN, the home of SPAM.
They make only 2 versions of SPAM, regular and SPAM lite (mainly, turkey instead of ham meat). They use standard recipies all the time, and work hard to make each can taste the same. The added salt is adjusted to match the saltiness of the meat, which varies somewhat, but the overall salt in the finished can of SPAM is consistent.
Use some common sense! Why would Hormel spend money making a special version for the South Pacific trade, when the standard version sells so well?
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### Author:  [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/12 "2004-12-04T00:11:26Z")
From this [link](http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/8867451.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp)
> [@](#):
>
> Obesity was once almost unheard of on the island. All that changed following World War II, when the traditional Polynesian diet of fish, fruit and vegetables was abandoned in favor of … Western foods.
I deliberately omited one word.
Anyone notice that the traditional Polynesian diet looks a lot like South Beach and Atkins?
Its flour and potatoes and pasta and sugar, (cheap carbohydrate crap that is the staple of processed foods) that is ravaging those people.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/13 "2004-12-04T00:20:04Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> Comely _means_ “fat”, right?
Just in case **mangeorge** is not joking, here’s the entry from the M-W Thesaurus. The dictionary defi was about the same, only aimed at somewhat-less-beautiful.
One entry found for comely.
Entry Word: comely
Function: adjective
Text: 1
Synonyms BEAUTIFUL, attractive, beauteous, ||bonny, fair, good-looking, handsome, lovely, pretty, pulchritudinous
Antonyms homely
2
Synonyms DECOROUS 1, becoming, befitting, civilized, comme il faut, conforming, correct, nice, proper, seemly
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/14 "2004-12-04T00:21:38Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> No, it is **false**.
>
> I’m from Minnesota, and I have friends who work at the Hormel plant in Austin, MN, the home of SPAM.
>
> They make only 2 versions of SPAM, regular and SPAM lite (mainly, turkey instead of ham meat). They use standard recipies all the time, and work hard to make each can taste the same. The added salt is adjusted to match the saltiness of the meat, which varies somewhat, but the overall salt in the finished can of SPAM is consistent.
>
> Use some common sense! Why would Hormel spend money making a special version for the South Pacific trade, when the standard version sells so well?
You hush, or I’ll tie you down and read the “ingredients” label of a can of Spam to you. Over and over.
I also eat an occasional can of Vienna Sausage. The chicken kind. Out of the can.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/15 "2004-12-04T00:32:38Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> Just in case **mangeorge** is not joking, here’s the entry from the M-W Thesaurus. The dictionary defi was about the same, only aimed at somewhat-less-beautiful.
> One entry found for comely.
>
> Entry Word: comely
> Function: adjective
> Text: 1
> Synonyms BEAUTIFUL, attractive, beauteous, ||bonny, fair, good-looking, handsome, lovely, pretty, pulchritudinous
> Antonyms homely
> 2
> Synonyms DECOROUS 1, becoming, befitting, civilized, comme il faut, conforming, correct, nice, proper, seemly
While I _was_ kidding, I was also referring to the fact that chubbiness has at times in history been regarded as quite beautiful. AKA comely. Rubenesque. The paintings I’ve seen of islanders of the time didn’t depict them as skinny super models, that’s for sure. Men nor women.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/16 "2004-12-04T01:53:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I deliberately omited one word.
>
> Anyone notice that the traditional Polynesian diet looks a lot like South Beach and Atkins?
No, and I still haven’t noticed it. I’ve never yet heard of a low-carb fruit, and much of the “vegetables” mentioned there is probably the high-carb poi.
And the popularity of Spam on islands can be explained for the most part by cost. Fresh meat must either be raised on precious real estate, or quickly shipped in deep freeze from the mainland. But Spam and similar products have an unlimited shelf life and can be shipped cheaply, so they’re less expensive.
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### Author:  [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/17 "2004-12-04T02:45:30Z")
Okay, I only lived there for 6 years, but that was recently and my fiance and in-laws have lived there for years. Seems I’m more qualified than than most of the other posters.
SPAM was a handy thing to eat. The [Master spoke](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_229.html) of the origins on popularity of SPAM in the islands at some length.
Currently, meat is not exceptionally expensive (all groceries in Hawai’i are more expensive than on the mainland, but meat isn’t out of proportion). The reason so much SPAM is currently consumed is because it appears in so many popular recepies that mom used to make and that are still used.
Polynesian people are not significantly genetically differnet enough from other people to cause them to genetically adapt to the “traditonal” fish and veggie diet. The weren’t seperated from the rest of humanity long enough. To look at it another way, before the development of agriculture, people everywhere ate mostly veggies and a little meat, and probably didn’t have the heart and obesity problems we now face.
It’s not that Polynesians are any more genetically prone to fatness than anyone. The popular dishes in Hawai’i are largely meat and starch based. Very little emphasis on the veggies. Like everywhere, meat and starches are the tastiest of foods, and if you can afford to eat them you probably will. If you put on a party, you’ll lay out the meat and starch. In Hawai’i, there isn’t a real stigma against being big, if anything, it’s prefered. So, the large proportion of weight related problems is caused by cultural aspects and not genetic.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/18 "2004-12-04T03:45:03Z")
> [@Pullet](#):
>
> Polynesian people are not significantly genetically differnet enough from other people to cause them to genetically adapt to the “traditonal” fish and veggie diet. The weren’t seperated from the rest of humanity long enough.
Since a predisposition to obesity could be related to the frequency of one or a few genes, the amount of time Polynesians have been separated has little to do with it. The Pennsylvania Dutch, for example, have a higher prevalence of certain genetic diseases and they have only be separated (by inbreeding) from other populations fof a few hundred years.
> [@](#):
>
> It’s not that Polynesians are any more genetically prone to fatness than anyone. . . . So, the large proportion of weight related problems is caused by cultural aspects and not genetic.
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss a genetic basis. While the basis has not been established, it is the subject of ongoing research.
From [here](http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1653.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> Race:
>
> ```
> * Obesity is a cosmopolitan disease that affects all races worldwide. However, certain ethnic and racial groups appear to be particularly predisposed. The Pima Indians of Arizona and other ethnic groups native to North America have a particularly high prevalence of obesity. In addition, Polynesians, Micronesians, Anurans, Maoris of the West and East Indies, African Americans in North America, and the Hispanic populations (both Mexican and Puerto Rican in origin) in North America also have particularly high predispositions to developing obesity.
>
> * Secular trend studies clearly underline the marked importance of environmental factors (particularly dietary issues) in the development of obesity. Many of the genetically similar cohorts of the above named high-risk ethnic and racial groups have far less prevalence for obesity in their countries of origin, but this changes significantly when such groups have immigrated to the affluent Northern Hemisphere, with altered dietary and activity habits. These findings form the core concept of the thrifty gene hypothesis espoused by Neal et al.
>
> ```
In other words, obesity has both a genetic and an environmental component, and the very high rate in Polynesians may in part be due to genetics.
[This site](http://www.pt-it.de/ngfn/pd/show_details.php?id=53) describes a research project to look into the genetic links to obesity in Polynesian populations.
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### Author:  [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/19 "2004-12-04T05:28:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> No, and I still haven’t noticed it. I’ve never yet heard of a low-carb fruit, and much of the “vegetables” mentioned there is probably the high-carb poi.
>
> And the popularity of Spam on islands can be explained for the most part by cost. Fresh meat must either be raised on precious real estate, or quickly shipped in deep freeze from the mainland. But Spam and similar products have an unlimited shelf life and can be shipped cheaply, so they’re less expensive.
However, most of the “tropical” fruits we associate with the south seas (Pineapple, Mangoes, Lychees, things like that) were introduced to Polynesia within the last 100 years. Pretty much everything “traditionally” associated with Polynesia and usually Hawaii are recent imports. The only things that the native Polynesians probably brought with them were Bananas (there’s a few Hawaiian varieities), taro, coconuts. Even the classic Macadamia which everyone associates with Hawaii is from Australia.
That’s not to say that Polynesians were carb free. Taro is a major staple, and banana varieties were developed in Polynesia. One Hawaiian variegated variety was only eaten by chiefs.
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### Author:  [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-deadly-to-polynisian-people/277967/20 "2004-12-04T05:44:52Z")
Spam was [everywhere](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4655172/) when I visited Hawaii. Hawaiians view Spam like Ohioans view bowling - it’s so square, it’s hip. A Hawaiian guy told me that the Hawaiian word for steak is “Spam”. I’m not sure he was kidding.
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