Traditional Maasai Dietary Practices and Their Inapplicability to Modern Carnivore Diets: A Narrative Review

The traditional dietary practices of the Maasai people frequently are cited to support meat-based diets in industrialized populations, owing to the historically low prevalence of cardiovascular disease among this nomadic pastoralist group. However, such comparisons typically neglect the multifaceted interplay of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that underpin Maasai health outcomes. This narrative review critically examines the socio-ecological context of the Maasai, highlighting their unique genetic adaptations for cholesterol metabolism, high physical activity levels, intermittent fasting, calorie restriction, and high-altitude living. It also addresses the confounding effects of infectious diseases and a reduced life expectancy, which shape their cardiovascular risk profile. Significant differences in the dietary composition and context exist between the traditional Maasai diet and modern meat-based dietary patterns, rendering generalizations problematic. This review emphasizes the importance of population-specific factors and underscores the limitations of extrapolating health benefits attributed to the traditional Maasai diet to other populations who do not share these factors.