For the Tohono O’odham people of southern Arizona, the music we’re listening to is an important part of their traditional culture. It’s been played at dances and feasts for over a hundred years. But in other ways, the Tohono O’odham have strayed from their cultural heritage, and paid a price. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. Forsaking traditional foods has apparently led to a high rate of diabetes among the Tohono O-odham.

“We looked at indigenous rates of diabetes throughout the world and found that the Australian aborigines have a rate of diabetes that’s exactly the same as ours. And the common denominator is that we both live in deserts, we both used to eat foods from the desert.”

Angelo Joaquin, Jr., is a Tohono O’odham who works with a group called Native Seed Search. They began researching the diabetes problem with their counterparts in Australia.

“We found out that foods that grow in the desert tend to have substances which keep them moist. And these include pectin, gummy fibers, and mucilage and the fruits of the desert, cactus fruit, prickly pear fruit, all have this mucilage in them. The prickly pear pads have a lot of this substance. And what we found out is when you eat those substances, it slows your digestion rate to a point where, where if there’s any sugar to be introduced into your blood, it takes place over four to six hours, and in many cases, a diabetic’s pancreas can produce enough insulin to work with that amount of sugar.”

Elders of the Tohono O’odham nation are now teaching children about the plants of the desert, in hopes of bringing back traditional foods. The Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.