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Glossary

Atherosclerosis

Defined in topic 8

The build-up of fatty, often calcified plaque in artery walls. It is ancient, found in mummies, yet 85% of Tsimane adults scanned had no coronary calcium at all.

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Where this comes from

In the reference topic that owns this term

Reference topic 8, The Heart That Remembers the Savanna, states the mismatch as a card: what the system evolved to expect, what it gets instead, and what happens in the gap.

Mismatch card

What it expects

Hours of light and moderate activity daily, little salt, plenty of potassium, a lean body and low LDL for life.

What it gets

Long sitting, about 11 g of salt a day on the global average, too little potassium, abundant food.

What happens in the gap

Blood pressure that climbs with age, earlier and commoner atherosclerosis, a lower aerobic ceiling; 1.4 billion adults aged 30 to 79 with hypertension.

The full card, and the topic behind it

What that chapter recommends

3 of the 7 graded recommendations in Reference topic 8, strongest evidence first. How the grades work.

  1. Move through the day, every day

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

    Use the step and weekly-minute targets in Chapter 40; the Tsimane pattern is hours of mostly light and moderate activity.

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  2. Raise your ceiling

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

    Steady endurance training and intervals both raise VO2 max, by about 5 mL/kg/min in trials of healthy adults aged 18 to 45, intervals slightly more.

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  3. Eat for potassium

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

    Build meals on fruit and vegetables, as DASH did, though that diet changed more than potassium. WHO suggests at least 3,510 mg of potassium a day from food.

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Related terms

The argument behind this term, its studies and its notes are in Reference topic 8 of the reference library. The book gives the practical version. Get the book.