The Ancient Secrets of Bolivia’s Tsimane Women That Keep Aging at Bay

In northeastern Bolivia, deep in the Amazon, lives an indigenous community that has intrigued scientists for years. They are the Tsimane, a remote community where people age slower than the rest of the world.

This semi-nomadic tribe, which came into contact with the outside world only a few years ago, lives in small communities of between 20 and 30 families. They live mainly in the municipalities of the department of Beni and live off what nature gives them. The Tsimane cultivate bananas and manioc through shifting cultivation. Their source of protein is hunting and fishing, even though climate change has dramatically reduced the number of animals in the forest.

However, what is most surprising about this community is their health and their way of aging

On a recent trip to the Fatima Mission 600 kilometers north of La Paz, BBC journalist Alejandro Millán Valencia saw with his own eyes what many believe to be a miracle of nature.

Millán discovered that an 80-year-old Tsimane has the same cardiovascular and brain health as a 55-year-old adult in New York or London. In fact, their brains seem to age much more slowly.

The secret? Isolation, diet, and lots and lots of physical activity. “Tsimanes have less arteriosclerosis than Japanese women and men who follow an extremely low-fat diet,” anthropologist Hillard Kaplan, who has been studying the community for over 20 years, told Millan.

Kaplan and his colleagues found that the Tsimane have the healthiest arteries ever studied on the planet. They also found that their brains age much slower than those of people in North America or Europe, for example.

Tsimane women have another secret: craftsmanship

Although scientific findings on Tsimane’s health have been found across the population, there are some essential differences between women and men. The average Tsimane woman has about nine children in her lifetime. Although there is a high infant mortality rate, the Tsimane who survive live for many years in good health.

For their part, Tsimane women devote much of their time to weaving the roofs of their houses. They do this with jatata, a plant that grows in the deepest areas of the foothills surrounding the communities.

The women must go deep into the jungle and walk barefoot for six hours round trip, carrying the branches on their backs. They do this once or twice a month. Then, they dry the leaves and begin weaving. The braids must be tightly woven to keep the water out and, at the same time, let the air in.

The importance of community life and the few vices

For the Tsimane, life is quiet. They sleep about seven or eight hours a day and devote the day to physical labor.

“The oldest Tsimane depend on themselves to eat because, beyond the support that exists between families and even the community, the truth is that each person is responsible for their own, and often the descendants of these elders must first think about feeding their own children,” explains to BBC Mundo the Bolivian doctor Daniel Eid Rodriguez, who has been part of the research team since the beginning.

“This means that they are forced to carry out daily activities that demand them at all levels, not only physically but also mentally,” he adds. But when it’s time to rest, the Tsimane gather at sunset around the fire, drink chicha-a fermented, thick, yellow drink-and tell stories.

Does the Tsimane have the secret of eternal youth?

Almost. The Tsimane’s high-carbohydrate diet and their physical and mental activity have led them to have few illnesses. They show no signs of old-age ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, or heart problems.

Research led by U.S. cardiologist Randall C. Thompson in 2013, along with Kaplan and other colleagues, found that 87% of Tsimane over the age of 70 have minimal atherosclerotic heart disease.

The second part of the research, published in 2023, found something more surprising: elderly Tsimane had up to 70% less brain atrophy than people of the same age in industrialized countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, or the United States.

“Most Tsimanes can be active for four to six hours without resting, whether walking, planting, or doing housework. Being on the move is part of their identity,” Kaplan told the BBC.

However, it’s not all good news

Because of their isolation, the Tsimane have little access to health care. And despite their amazing state of health, they have high levels of inflammation due to the common infections they suffer from.

As the BBC explains, nearly 100% of the Tsimane population has faced a parasite or worm attack at some point in their lives. Although epidemics such as COVID-19 did not touch them, this community has had to survive many infections due to its proximity to water and living in the middle of nature.

Worse, climate change has put their survival at risk. Forest fires have scared off animals that are a source of protein, and researchers have begun to detect cholesterol and diabetes in the younger generation.

Yet, despite all this, the Tsimane are an example of how our ancestors really knew how to live much better than we do.