The lead author of the study is Jose Clemente at theIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.Mr. Clemente said that when traditional societieschange to a Western lifestyle they lose this richbacterial diversity. They also lose the benefits thatcome from having so many different kinds of germsliving in and on the body.
For example, he said, the Yanomami carry bacteria thatcan prevent kidney stones. These bacteria were nearlyabsent in the other groups studied. He added that thisstudy demonstrates the need to learn about themicrobes in non-Western people before their microbialdiversity is lost. But how healthy are the Yanomami?
Another study by some of the same authors said Amazonian tribes that hadmore westernized lifestyles had higher rates of obesity than the Yanomami. On the other hand, the Yanomami had higher rates of undersized growth. TheWorld Health Organization considers undersized growth a sign of poornutrition.