THE BASAL METABOLISM OF MAYAS IN YUCATAN

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Abstract
The basal metabolism of the Maya Indian (male) averaged 5.2% above the predicted metabolism of northern white men. The mouth temp. averaged 97.2[degree] F., thus ruling out any possibility of an effect of febrile temp. Season, climate, and configuration had no marked influence and the diet (protein intake) is believed to be somewhat less stimulating to metabolism than is that of the northern white. Since the sub-tropical climate might be expected to lower rather than increase the metabolism, it is evident that some factor, presumably racial, has asserted itself. But the possibility that the Maya''s customary life of hard physical labor may account in part (not wholly) for the elevated metabolism obscures the true effect of the racial factor. Supplementary observations on white members of the expedition before, during, and after a short stay in Yucatan and on other white men and women who had been in Yucatan less than 4 mo. indicated that the change in environment was without influence on their basal metabolism.

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