Are the stories about people who know no disease true?

In Russian-language blogs, there are widespread stories about the Hunza people, whose representatives live on average up to 120 years and do not suffer from any diseases. We have verified the accuracy of this information.

Posts about the Hunza people say: “Their average life expectancy is 120 years, and the oldest inhabitant, who is no longer alive, was about 160. They say that their women can give birth at 65.” The Hunza supposedly owe their longevity to a special diet based on apricots and vegetables. In addition, in the spring, when winter supplies run out, the Hunza go hungry for one or two months, maintaining their strength only with a drink made from dried apricots. Some posts also claim that the Hunza do not have cancer at all, citing a certain statement made in August 1977 in Paris at the International Cancer Congress. Stories about the extraordinary longevity and good health of the Hunza people are gaining traction on Facebook. tens, hundreds and even thousands reposts. In addition, they are popular on VKontakte (1, 2) and on YouTube.

The Hunza, or Burishi, are a people living in the north of Pakistan, in the mountain valleys of Hunza, Yasin and Nagar. Due to the inaccessibility of these places, until the 20th century, the Hunza had very little contact with the outside world. Europeans first learned about this people thanks to John Biddulph, a British officer who served in Gilgit, a small administrative center in northern Kashmir, from 1877 to 1881. He was interested in ornithology and ethnography and wrote several books about this region, including the work "Peoples of the Hindu Kush", in which, among other local tribes, he described the Burish (as the inhabitants of the Hunza Valley called themselves). “Little is known about these people,” he wrote. - Living surrounded by high mountains, they are proud of the independence that they have always maintained. They perhaps represent a unique example of a people who still live in almost the same conditions as their ancestors 14 centuries ago.” The Hunza, he said, are distinguished by their courage and belligerence. They speak the Burushaski language (it should be noted that scientists to this day have not been able to attribute it to any of the existing language families), but do not have a written language (they began to develop it only in the 1970s).

Biddulph wrote nothing about the health of this people. The doctor was the first to speak on this topic Robert McCarrison, who served in the Indian Medical Service at the beginning of the 20th century (Indian Medical Service). His research interests were the influence of nutrition on health. In his work "Research into diseases associated with nutritional deficiencies“He pointed out the limited diet of the Hunza and wrote: “Among these people, life expectancy is unusually long; and the help that I was able to give them during the approximately seven years that I spent among them was limited mainly to the treatment of accidental injuries, the removal of senile cataracts, plastic surgery for trachoma, or the treatment of diseases that have no connection with nutrition. Considering the severity of the winters in this part of the Himalayas and the fact that their housing and sanitary conditions are extremely primitive, it becomes obvious that the forced limitation of the diet to the simplest gifts of nature is quite compatible with longevity, persistent vitality and perfect physique. 

Based on the work of Biddulph, McCarrison and some travelers who visited the Hunza Valley, the Swiss-German physician Ralph Bircher wrote a book in the 1930s:Hunza: a people who know no disease" Around the same time, a similar book was published in the UK - “Health Wheel» Dr. Guy Wrench. In the preface, the author noted that Robert McCarrison's description of the Hunza as "unsurpassed by any Indian race in perfection of physique" inspired him to focus on studying "a truly healthy people" in order to provide the British with a guide to healthy living. Like Bircher, he studied them from the few sources available at that time, and not personally.

Gradually, the literature about the extraordinary health of the Hunza became more and more numerous - their remoteness from civilization was ideal ground for any fabrications. In the article "The myth of the healthy savage» Professor William Jarvis, founder of the National Council Against Medical Fraud (National Council Against Health Fraud) gives several examples of such publications: “In 1964, Renee Taylor published the book “Health Secrets of the Hunza,” in which she talked about people who “have no cancer, no heart attacks and virtually none of the other diseases that claim the lives of men and women in the prime of life.” <...> Another health enthusiast, optometrist Allen E. Banik, who visited Hunza sponsored by the television show People Are Funny, claims to have examined the Hunzakuts and found them to be the living embodiment of health legends. <...> In the health food magazine Prevention, Jane Kinderlehrer writes that in Hunza, "cancer has not yet been invented. Everyone has perfect 20/20 vision. Cardiologists find no sign of heart disease. No one ever suffers from ulcers, appendicitis or gout. It is not surprising that men and women enjoy active lives at the age of 100 or 120."

At the same time, already in the middle of the 20th century there was a different point of view on the longevity and health of the Hunza. Thus, geologist John Clark, who lived for a year among these people and, among other things, provided medical assistance to the Hunza, wrote: “I would like to apologize to those travelers whose impressions were refuted by my experience. During my first trip to Hunza, I encountered almost all the same misconceptions as they did: “healthy Hunza,” “democratic court,” “a country where there are no poor people,” etc. - and only a long stay in Hunza allowed me to see how things really are. I take no pleasure in either debunking or confirming any claims, but I had to clearly state the truth as I saw it.” 

In 1955, a group of doctors from Kyoto University conducted comprehensive study health of 277 residents of the Hunza Valley. Scientists identified many diseases among them (the most common were rheumatism, tuberculosis, asthma and goiter), and also discovered a high level of infant mortality (about 30% of children did not live to be ten years old). “Heart disease, malignancy and appendicitis, which were previously thought to be absent in this region, were in fact detected,” the study said. As for longevity, according to the same study, 10% of the Hunzakuts died before reaching their 40th birthday. Doctor Alexander Lif, who studied life expectancy issues, wrote: “In Hunza in 1972, I was introduced to Tulahu Begu, who, according to the then world (king), was 110 years old. The next oldest was a 105-year-old man, and the remaining older people, I was told, were in their 90s or 80s. The population of the Principality of Hunza, according to world estimates, was then about 40,000 people. However, no census was carried out and there was no documentary evidence to support the words of this ruler.” 

Thus, there is no objective data confirming the special longevity of representatives of the Hunza people. But there are scientific studies proving that Hunzakuts suffer from various diseases. The region also recorded high infant mortality rates.

Cover photo: Facebook screenshot

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. Is the video about the 198-year-old man true?
2. Is it true that humans retain up to 4% of Neanderthal genes?
3. Is it true that psychologist Wilhelm Reich was jailed for inventing an effective cure for cancer?