Description
Bad sugar, episode four of the documentary series Unnatural causes: Is inequality making us sick? shows the increase of lifestyle diseases among Pima and Tohono O’odham Indians in southern Arizona. Like other Aboriginal communities, they suffer from health inequities (Adelson, 2005). Given a historical account, this episode details how the change in their ecosystem has resulted in the changes in their health. This film uses evidence from statistics and healthcare officers’ accounts who have worked with the population to illustrate the effects of the changes on the two Indian tribes, who have the highest rates of diabetes in the world, the disease they never had before. The main argument of this episode is that the tribes’ current health problems are as a result of change in their ecology, specifically diversion of water sources, which has greatly changed their way of life.