The lead author of the study is Jose Clemente at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Mr. Clemente said that when traditional societies change to a Western lifestyle they lose this rich bacterial diversity. They also lose the benefits that come from having so many different kinds of germs living in and on the body.
For example, he said, the Yanomami carry bacteria that can prevent kidney stones. These bacteria were nearly absent in the other groups studied. He added that this study demonstrates the need to learn about the microbes in non-Western people before their microbial diversity is lost. But how healthy are the Yanomami?
Another study by some of the same authors said Amazonian tribes that had more westernized lifestyles had higher rates of obesity than the Yanomami. On the other hand, the Yanomami had higher rates of undersized growth. The World Health Organization considers undersized growth a sign of poornutrition.