Bobbie Maxine Benavidez

This study examines the impact of sociocultural transitions on cardiometabolic health outcomes in Yucatec Maya communities amidst tourism development in the Yucatan Peninsula. Through an integrative approach combining biosocial “DOHaD” theory and Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) frameworks, this research aims to advance anthropological understandings of Indigenous health transition. This project addresses the consequences of land dispossession, water pollution, and deforestation on the health of Yucatec Maya people, in addition to subsequent rising rates of weight gain, diabetes, and chronic diseases. By integrating traditional Maya foodways with modern dietary shifts, the study explores how nutrition transitions and childhood undernutrition contribute to adult cardiometabolic risks. Using the Two Eyed Seeing concept, the project seeks to co-create knowledge with Indigenous communities, employing culturally sensitive methodologies alongside biomedical assessments. Through fieldwork in three rural Maya villages, it aims to characterize Yucatec Maya subsistence practices, assess the relationship between early life undernutrition and adult cardiometabolic outcomes, and identify culturally important diets and subsistence strategies that may offer protection against chronic diseases. Ultimately, the research aims to inform culturally grounded interventions and public health strategies to improve cardiometabolic health outcomes in Indigenous communities undergoing rapid sociocultural change.