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Tohono O'odham
Community Action -
The Tohono O'odham (formerly known as
Papago) Nation sits in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, sixty
miles west of Tucson, Arizona. Until 1960, diabetes was unknown
among the Tohono O'odham. Today, the O'odham have the highest
rate of adult-onset diabetes in the world with half of the
population suffering from the disease. The cause for this
devastating change is the destruction of the traditional food
systems and diet. Several scientific studies have confirmed that
traditional O'odham foods - including tepary beans, mesquite
beans, cholla (cactus) buds and chia seeds - help regulate blood
sugar and significantly reduce the effects of diabetes. In
short, the consumption of traditional O'odham foods has been
documented to decrease both the rate and severity of diabetes.
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Dry Bean Growers
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