Deep within the lush expanse of the Bolivian Amazonian rainforest resides an indigenous community known as the Tsimane. This group lives a forager-horticulturalist lifestyle remarkably reminiscent of early human societies, maintaining traditional diets and highly active routines devoid of modern technological influence. Anthropologists and medical researchers have turned their attention to the Tsimane for decades, seeking valuable insights into ancestral human physiology and how it responds to aging and disease processes without the confounding effects of industrialization. Among the most striking findings from studies involving the Tsimane are their extraordinarily low incidences of chronic illnesses afflicting modern industrial societies, including dementia, cardiovascular disease, and sustained systemic inflammation in later life.
Recent groundbreaking research conducted by a team at Arizona State University has uncovered a striking physiological pattern among post-menopausal women within the Tsimane community that appears to echo universally across human populations, regardless of lifestyle or environment. This study, published in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, investigated blood lipid profiles before and after menopause, analyzing critical biomarker shifts that are known contributors to cardiovascular risk. Blood lipids—such as triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol—are central to the development of atherosclerosis and subsequent heart disease, conditions disproportionately prevalent in industrialized nations following the menopausal transition.
While it’s well documented that women in Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, exhibit increased blood lipid levels and elevated cardiovascular risk in the years following menopause, less is understood about this phenomenon in non-industrialized populations, particularly those with high physical activity levels and unprocessed diets. The Tsimane, who routinely walk approximately 15,000 to 20,000 steps per day and consume fresh, minimally processed foods, provide an unparalleled biological window into human health unaffected by modern sedentary behavior and calorie-dense diets.
Lead author Madeleine Getz, a doctoral candidate specializing in global health at ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change, emphasizes the novelty of this inquiry. “Our knowledge has been largely shaped by data from industrialized societies. To our knowledge, no one had examined the relationship between menopause and blood lipid changes in a traditional, physically active population like the Tsimane before,” Getz explains. This gap in comparative biomedical research limited the understanding of whether menopause-associated cardiometabolic changes are a product of lifestyle or an intrinsic feature of human physiology.
The study analyzed six blood lipid markers, revealing that five—including triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol—showed measurable increases following menopause, ranging between 1.5 to 11 percent. Although the percentage increases were modest compared to postmenopausal women in industrialized nations—about two to seven times lower—the consistent pattern across such dramatically different living conditions suggests a conserved biological response. This finding challenges earlier assumptions that post-menopausal lipid elevation is primarily a consequence of sedentary lifestyle or processed diets prevalent in developed countries.
Benjamin Trumble, the study’s senior author and professor at ASU, who co-directs the long-standing Tsimane Health and Life History Project, highlights the wider implications of this research. “Documenting post-menopausal increases in risk factors for heart disease in the Tsimane population, who otherwise possess some of the healthiest hearts globally, suggests this phenomenon is a human universal.” He posits that this universal trend indicates an inherent physiological shift that transcends lifestyle factors, representing an evolutionary legacy embedded within human biology.
The metabolic shifts occurring during menopause are multifaceted, influenced by the cessation of ovarian estrogen production, which plays a critical role in regulating lipid metabolism, vascular function, and inflammatory processes. Estrogen is known to have cardioprotective effects, promoting favorable cholesterol profiles by raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and lowering LDL cholesterol. The dramatic hormonal alterations accompanying menopause precipitate changes in lipid handling that elevate cardiovascular risk. However, the Tsimane’s notably low baseline incidence of heart disease despite elevated post-menopausal lipids invites further investigation into protective mechanisms that may attenuate disease progression.
Understanding these universal lipid changes in a context free from common Western risk factors—obesity, type 2 diabetes, processed foods, and physical inactivity—encourages a reevaluation of menopause-associated cardiovascular risk. It raises questions about how evolutionary processes shaped female aging and whether modern interventions need to focus more on mitigating lifestyle exacerbations rather than the physiological changes themselves. The data also underscore the importance of considering evolutionary medicine frameworks when interpreting health transitions across the human lifespan.
Moreover, the research underscores the importance of long-term, integrative demographic and biomedical data collection within indigenous populations such as the Tsimane. The ongoing partnership established over two decades between the ASU research team and the Tsimane community facilitates ethical collaboration and ensures reciprocal benefits, combining scientific investigation with healthcare provision. This approach exemplifies best practices in community-engaged research, respecting indigenous sovereignty and knowledge while advancing scientific discovery.
In sum, this new study represents a significant advance in our understanding of menopause’s impact on female health globally. By revealing that increases in blood lipid levels after menopause occur consistently even in populations with minimal cardiovascular disease, the research illuminates a fundamental aspect of human physiology. It also prompts an essential reframing of menopausal health management strategies, emphasizing the necessity to tailor interventions that acknowledge both universal biological processes and modifiable lifestyle factors.
As aging populations grow worldwide, unraveling the complexities of menopause-associated health risks across diverse human ecologies becomes increasingly important. By bridging evolutionary biology, anthropology, and biomedicine, research such as this underscores the profound value of studying non-industrial societies to decode the fundamental mechanisms governing human health and disease. This knowledge can ultimately guide the development of more effective, culturally sensitive health strategies for post-menopausal women worldwide.
Subject of Research:
Menopause-related changes in blood lipid levels and cardiovascular risk factors in forager-horticulturalist populations.
Article Title:
Higher blood lipid levels after the transition to menopause in two forager-horticulturalist populations
News Publication Date:
Not explicitly stated in the article; research published “today” in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
Web References:
- DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoaf020
- ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change
- ASU Center for Evolution and Medicine
- ASU Institute of Human Origins
- Tsimane Health and Life History Project
References:
Research article in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health accessible via DOI link above.
Keywords:
Menopause, Human physiology, Blood lipids, Cholesterol, Cardiovascular risk, Forager-horticulturalists, Tsimane, Evolutionary medicine, Aging, Indigenous health, Human biology, Anthropology
