For some years now, I have been wondering why there is a surge in diabetes and hypertension cases in Bhutan. The conventional wisdom, and that’s what the doctors say, is that people need to move and exercise more. While sedentary lifestyle brought about by greater mobility, TV and 3G contributes to the problem, it does not explain why farmers are also grappling with these same health issues. During my time in Sherubtse I carried around one Omron BP monitor and a thermometer (I needed them for myself, actually) and I did some random measurements and found incidences of hypertension in almost all the villages I did my “research”. I am not a medical doctor and so I didn’t prescribe any medicines. But my relatives were very impressed with me. They thought I had mastered even medicines besides engineering.
Jokes aside, I have given a lot of thoughts on this and have browsed through several articles and scientific papers. Here are the three major possible causes. These are, obviously, in addition to what the doctors always tell us. These hypotheses are also supplemented by my own anecdotal evidences. I wish I could do a systematic and longitudinal study and collaborate with some medical professionals to make more conclusive claims. However, in Bhutan, research culture is nonexistent or badly under-resourced. In some cases, it is also frowned upon. Hence, to highlight the issue this article should suffice.
- Rice cooker
The traditional Bhutanese style of cooking rice involved throwing away the starch. In my family, we fed it to the dogs and used it to pre-dye the threads before weaving. Rice is 92% starch and 8% fibre. Starch, like sugar, turns into glucose in the blood stream and thus the consumption of starchy food can elevate your blood sugar levels. In the early 1980s, Hawkins pressure cooker hit the Bhutanese market and soon after Japanese rice cookers followed. Now Chinese cookers have reached wherever the Bhutan Power Corporation has taken the electricity to. In other words, at least in 95% of the country. The traditional way has almost disappeared because it is more convenient to use the electric cookers. However, when using them, the starch in the rice remains intact. Rice prepared this way is tastier but less healthy. Rice itself is not unhealthy but the cooking method, the amount we eat and the frequency of consumption make it very unhealthy.
Rice is a staple food in Asia. The Chinese, Japanese and Thai people also eat rice. However, they don’t eat the same quantity like the Bhutanese. They eat lots of noodles too. We, Bhutanese, are the only 100-percent-rice-eating-nationality in the world – by far the biggest rice-eaters per capita. We eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even as snacks (zow). When I was growing up in Tashigang, rice was only for special occasions. Except in western and southern Bhutan, east and central regions mainly consumed maize, buckwheat, wheat and millet. Now it is rice everywhere – and in every meal – not even every day.
- Doma
What is known as doma is composed of three ingredients – betel leaf, areca nut and slaked lime. Besides the known fact that betel nuts are carcinogen (causing oral cancer) while lime erodes stomach linings (leading to gastritis, ulcer and stomach cancer), eating doma causes taste buds to become progressively insensitive. This makes one to add more salt or sugar to feel the taste of the food.
- Geography – altitude
A study in the US was done to see if altitude changed our taste sensory. The research studied a group of participants at 3,500 meters above sea level for a period of three weeks. The subjects were asked to rate four compounds representing sweet, salty, sour and bitter taste over the period.
The result? An increase in the taste thresholds for glucose (sugar) and sodium chloride (salt). In other words, the participant felt that the same amount of salt and sugar they consumed at sea level was not adequate anymore. In fact, that’s the reason why airline food tastes bad, which also explains why cabin food comes with additional packets of salt, sugar and pepper. You would have noticed that if you live in Thimphu or Paro and you descend to Phuntsholing or Bangkok (lower altitude) you will find yourself hungry all the time. That’s because your taste buds work better and the increased oxygen at low altitude burns the food faster in your body.
What can you do?
Unfortunately, we can do nothing about the altitude but just know the fact that our body requires less salt and sugar than our taste buds ‘feel’ the need.
And then there are few things that are in our control.
- Return to traditional cooking style. Remove the starch when cooking or throw away the rice cooker. It is an additional work but better than losing your health. Cook the traditional style. Otherwise, reduce rice consumption and replace with local choices such as khulay (buckwheat pancakes from Bumthang) roti (from Southern Bhutan) or mix rice with kharang (maize from Eastern Bhutan). Buy Bhutanese. It will be good for our farmers; it will help ensure our food security because bulk of rice we consume is imported; and you have reduced risk of being diabetic. I normally switch between rice, pasta and bread. When I was in Kanglung I ate lots of kharang. Make small changes. Take baby steps. Don’t jump from rice to kharang in one day. Your body will go mad.
- Be careful with salt. Salt is cheap and
Japanese meal. Notice the rice portions and compare this with above picture easily available nowadays. When I was growing up, salt was in very limited supply (we rationed it very carefully). Besides, refined sugar or candies were totally unknown. Thais, Japanese and Chinese people hardly use salt in their cuisines – preferring soya sauce instead. Not to be culturally insensitive, but our suja is, health-wise, one of the worst drinks our forefathers invented. It is a bomb. It has saturated fat (butter), lots of salt (which saturates the butter even more) and an unknown and imported “tea” that comes mixed with baking soda (not sure of this chemical components either).
- Stop eating doma. Your taste buds will return to normal and food will taste better. And the town will be lot cleaner too. Forget the pact with Guru Rimpoche. That’s a myth.
(PS: The reference links to some of the articles have been provided in the article)
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Two years later I moved to Don Bosco Technical School in Kharbandi. My father rarely was home (he went on driving duty) and my mother had to be in Tongling to nurse my great-grandma. So I was packed off to a boarding school. I was only 7 and I remember Father Philip, the Selesian principal, refused to take me in. So my father, who had earlier worked as a royal chauffeur, got a kasho (royal edict) from HRH Ashi Dechen Wangmo Wangchuck (a real angel for many Bhutanese of my generation). The trip to Thimphu also coincided with the Coronation of the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. At the celebration ground in Changlingmithang, I received my largest sum of money until then, Nu. 5, which lasted for good 3 months. On my return journey from Thimphu all I can remember is taking a detour to Dawakha over a scary Baily bridge over Chuzom – and vomiting all the way to Phuntsholing in his white BGTS International truck that had the map of Australia on the door (I would later learn that those American International trucks were a gift under the Colombo Plan. They were such powerful beasts).
Dorji Wangchuk 