Studies on the Masai1’2’3

A summarized report on a multidiscipli-nary study of some unique biological charac-teristics of the Masai of East Africa appeared in the April 1971 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (1), and a detailed de-scription of the study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Pathology, 1971 (2). The authors have been invited to write an editorial summarizing their experience for this journal. First of all, we would like to say a few words as to the genesis of such a research project. One of our group, Dr. K. Biss, served in a “mobile hospital ” (a medically equipped Volkswagen) in Masailand as a volunteer physician under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Health of Kenya during 1965. He was then fully aware of the low serum choles-terol levels and total absence of atheroscle-rotic coronary heart disease among the Masai, in spite of their unusual but customary diet composed entirely of animal fat, carbohy-drates, and proteins, as first reported by Mann et al. (3). Mann, Shaffer and Rich (4) believed that this might be due to freedom from emotional stress and an abundance of physical exercise. However, Dr. Biss was not entirely satisfied by this explanation. He was especially impressed by the fact that the phys-ically active part of a male Masai’s life is over when he completes his warrior period and marries, usually by the age of 24. After this, his wife or wives perform most of the work. Upon Dr. Biss ’ return to the United States, a team was formed to explore this mystery further. Part of the field work was done at th