Under the direction of Gary Paul Nabhan of Native Seeds.SEARCH, and Australian organizer, Janette C. Brand of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Sydney, eight U.S. specialists (plus additional NIH-supported U.S. participants in the field of molecular biology) in various aspects of nutrition, population biology, ecology and anthropology will travel to Alice Springs, Australia in November 1992 to meet for a week with Australian counterparts to discuss the effects of changing dietary habits on the incidence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in indigenous desert populations in both countries, the Pima- speaking Indians of the U.S. Sonoran Desert and the Arandic-speaking aborigines of the Central Australian Desert. Over the five days of meetings, the participants will evaluate various hypotheses proposed to explain the rapid post-World War II rise in NIDDM, trying: to determine which factors of aboriginal diet and lifestyle formerly protected these genetically susceptible populations from developing diabetes; to elucidate patterns of parallel evolution which can account for the similarities in genetic responses to nutritional-ecological resources and constraints characteristic of the two deserts; and to consider which elements of traditional lifestyle, diet and medicine may serve as effective interventions aimed at preventing or controlling NIDDM among contemporary indigenous peoples. The seminar is important not only for the basic information it should develop and the future cooperative research plans it will promote, but also for helping native desert populations to modify their diets to avoid this type of diabetes.
