Travellers risk losing ‘unique’ defence against major diseases
IRISH Travellers have a better natural protection against some diseases than settled people but they are in danger of losing that advantage, according to a new study.
Settled people do not have the same defences as Travellers against inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, arthritis and Crohn’s disease.
The study warns that pressures to change their traditional lifestyles can cause Travellers to lose this unique health advantage.
The source of this protection lies in the human ‘microbiome’ which consists of trillions of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, viruses and yeasts that live in the human body, mainly in the gut, and are essential for maintaining and protecting health.
In the past century, the microbiomes of settled people were changed by modern lifestyles and diets and the use of antibiotics.
But the way of life of Travellers, including living in close proximity with their animals, meant they retained an ancient microbiome that is closer to that of all our ancestors and which has protected them from some ‘modern’ ailments.
While Travellers’ health and lifespans can suffer from many ailments that affect everyone, their microbiomes are in danger of suffering the same changes as everyone else as they are expected to live more like the settled community.
The study by a team from
APC Microbiome Ireland, based at University College, Cork, is entitled: ‘Microbiome and health implications for ethnic minorities after enforced lifestyle changes.’
One of the team is leading gastroenterologist Fergus Shanahan, professor of medicine at the university, who said around 100 Travellers were generous in assisting the study, which also examined 300 settled people in Ireland, and 3,000 people worldwide.
“We were stunned that Irish Travellers were found to have a truly unique microbiome which is closer to those of Peruvian farmers, Nepalese farmers, and a tribe in Tanzania,” said Prof Shanahan.
When the professor informed some members of the Traveller community in Cork that their microbiomes had similarities with people in rural Mongolia, they responded by pointing out that both groups share a cultural and traditional affinity with horses.
Prof Shanahan, commenting on the rise in diseases linked to modern lifestyles, said: “There is a pandemic gripping us that people are not talking about and it’s not Covid.
“It is the pandemic of non-communicable chronic diseases: diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory conditions like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, all those autoimmune conditions that have risen dramatically in the West in the last few decades.
“They have been linked to changes in lifestyles, which in turn are related to changes in the microbiome,” he told the Sunday Independent.
“I was intrigued that Irish Travellers do not tend to get some inflammatory diseases — MS and arthritis. Once upon a time we were all non-industrialised and we all had an ancient microbiome. Travellers retained ways of living that probably our great-grandparents had.
“Which group has the normal microbiome? Who has the healthy one. If you ask me, I would say I think the Travellers’ microbiome is far more desirable than the microbiome of the settled Irish,” he said.
The study, published in Nature Medicine, showed there are big public health implications when an ethnic minority are pressured to change their lifestyle, he said.
Travellers who helped with the study were nomadic in childhood. Those living in houses for 20 years tended to have microbiomes more like the settled Irish. But those living in halting sites and who had been more nomadic retained more of their ancient microbiome.
“The Travellers who took part were nomadic in childhood but now semi-nomadic or settled. I think they are probably losing this microbiome,” Prof Shanahan said. He understands arguments put forward by Travellers seeking access to land or property for their horses because these are part of their culture.
“And exposure to animals was one of the important aspects relating to the microbiome,” he said.
Modern medical practice facilitates the transplanting of microbes from donors into people whose own microbiomes were severely compromised by huge courses of antibiotics.
Prof Shanahan thanked Cork Travellers for their “insight, wisdom, and input” in their partnership with clinicians and scientists which helped shape the study.