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Fascinating research into people who still live the way they did in Northern Europe 250 years ago is providing important information about our own lifestyles. Fascinating research into people who still live the way they did in Northern Europe 250 years ago is providing important information about our own lifestyles. They're the Amish. If you saw the Peter Weir thriller 'Witness', you'd recognise the name. They're people in the United States who've rejected modernity and remained isolated genetically from the rest of the American population. They're farmers who refuse cars, electricity and much of modern technology and they all live and eat much the same way. Researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore have been investigating Amish health. It turns out they're at least as obese as other Americans and have a diet loaded with saturated fats. But they develop Type 2 diabetes at half the average rate in the United States. Their cholesterol levels are okay too and they also have less osteoporosis. The reasons are probably the amount of exercise they do by avoiding labour saving machines - as well as the fact that they don't smoke. It's another reminder that tobacco is a major poison and that while obesity isn't good for you, it can be counteracted to some extent by exercise.
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