lhe physiczl capacity of different professional groups of Brazilian Amazonians , studied by cycle ergometry ( • )

A study of the physical performanc" of seven different professional groups living in the Brazilian Amazon was performed . The level of the physical capacity was measured using the ergometric bicycle. The professionnl groups ( 10 persons each) were the following: military groups, rural workers, river workers from the fluvial harbor of the city of Belém, primitive Kayapó indians . The other groups were professional soccer players, sedentary working persons and urban workers 5 people of each. The best physical capacity was obtained by the soccer players and military groups . In second place, having small differences were the remaining groups, except the sedentaries. These persons revealed very low physlcal performance . As a general generalization the amazonians, although living in an environment of very high temperaturas and humidity, are in about the same pnysical condition as those living in the interior of State of São Paulo (city of Ribeirão Preto) . The amazonian rural workers reached better physical condition when compared to those studied in the State of São Paulo . Our prelirninary explanation for such a result is the ingestion of a more balanced diet by the amazonians who have mainly high protein intake . The primitiva Kayapó indians, perhaps studied for the first time, showed a pllysical performance comparable with the average of the other workers.

knowledge of the human physical capacity has very many actual implications (Fundamentais of Exercise Testi ng , 1971) .
In a prior work we displayed our experi• ence analyzing distinct professional groups living in the southern part of Brazil (Gardner et ai., 1977;Vichi et ai. 1976).After this initial approach to the subject, we charged our interest to the area of the Brazilian Amazon.The reasons for this choice were the various aspects of life and adaptation which differ widely between these two populations.Among these differences we should point out as the most important: ethnic composition, mesological situation, food ingestion, habits, nutritional status and type of work .This paper is a first attempt to determine the physical performance of several different normal groups of people living and laboring in the tropical Brazi lian Amazon.A relevant fact we have to indicate, is that among the Amazonians we were able to study, were ten primitiva kayapó indians.This observation is probably unique and original because of the fact of the rapid and irreversible civilization habits that the .ndiansare assuming .
As basic equipment to measure this biologica l function we used the ergometric bicycle.Alt hough other methods are described, we prefered this technique because of our own expeiience and the feasibility of the test .
Our purpose in doing this work was first of ali to find out the physical performance of groups of Amazonians, and secondarily it was to obtain some comparison between these results and those already described for men living in the southern part of Brazil .

MATERIAL ANO METHODS
Ali work was done in the city of Belém, located at the mouth of the Amazon river.Seven different populational groups were selected for the study: river workers, soldiers, Kayapó indians, (10 men of each), professional soccer players, sedentary workers and urban workers (5 men of each) .
Prior to the test, ali persons had a questionaire to be filled out regardlng socio-economic situation, food íngestion, physical activities and past medicai history .Also complete physical examinations and conventional electrocardiograms were done.The traces, although normal, were kept as documentation.Some serum blochemical exams were done (hematocrit, glucose, BUN proteins) to complete the medicai routine.
The soldiers had been recently enlisted in the army with less then two months of training.The indians were living in the jungle, walking almost the entire day, picking up Brazil nuts which were scattered in the forest .After getting a sufficient amount of nuts, they carried the fruits to a civilízed advanced government post, in order to exchange them for foods, mainly salt.Ten of the healthier indians were invited to visit the city to participate in this and other medicai and physiological projects.In Belem they stayed in the "Jndian H ouse", a place very similar to thelr natural habitat .Apparently the change of environment did not cause stress for the indians.
They had prior contact with the Laboratories and had been trained before the exam.Two translators taught them the procedures, and ali indians seemed to enjoy the experiment .They did not have great difficulties using the bicycle .A rubber strap was attached to the right foot and rolled around the pedal.The other side was handled by one of us (figure 1} .With this device, it was practically impossible for them to move the cycle in a retrograde Way.
The other groups were formed by people doing normal local work.The ri ver workers were persons who unloaded ships almost every day.The soccer players were professional athletes in a period of heavy training.The rural workers who lived in the interior, about 60 kilometers from Selem were doing their duties which consisted of planting aromatic trees .The urban workers were constructing houses .The sedentary workers were medicai doctors who engaged very little physical activity .
The technique to determine their physical performance was the same as previously presented (Vichi , 1976} .The tested person bicycled against increased loads during certain periods of time followed by intervals of rest.Figure 2 illustrates hte type of exam used for exerci se and rest.The procedure ended when the subject reached a cardiac frequency of 195 beats per minute (Fundamentais of exerclse testlng , 1971) .The phase of the exam In which the above rate was obtained, was used to define degrees of physical performance.The temperatura in the laboratory varied from 22 to 25.° C .during the test.(' ).

DISCUSSION
The results found In thls lnvestigatlon brought up some expected conclusions.They have shown a certain relationship between the degrees of physical performance obtained and the work routinely done by the professional.The best physical capacity that was revealed ( 1 ) -Thls method of testlng ls used in the Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto -Unlverslty of São Paulo.Brazll.by t he group of athletes and the worst which Wós demonstrated by the sedentaries are normally expected.The black stiips mean 2 mlnute of rest.

F IGURE 2 -Swq u
The physical capacity o f ... Also the groups with intermediary positions have shown expected .In opposition to our first study regarding this subject.the relatively poor performance of the rural workers was not observed.As a matter of subsequent discussion, we will try to explain the possible reason why the rural workers of the Amazon had better capacity than those working in the State of São Paulo .
A very important and intersting observation was related to the physical performance demonstrated by Kayapó indians .In spite of the limitation of the test method that may have caused some additional stress to the indians (event not really suggested).they reached very satisfactory .They had a better classificatíon than the rural workesr, who labor every day in a programmed way.
During the evolution of the test, the indians demonstrated an easy contrai of the method.A fact that was almost universal among the Kayapós and should be noted as a curiosity was the very small amount absence of perspiration during the exerci se.Although we could note make a documentation of this, the other professiona ls who ended the test exhibited a great amount off sweat.There are no explanations for these findings.
The revision of the protocols have demonstrated, under the nutritional point of view, an acceptable balanced diet with a high protein ingestion among ali studied persons .In the same way, a high vitamin intake is supposed to occur due to the great fruit comsumption .This degree of protein ingestion is uncommon in Brazil .The Amazon region may be one exception due to the great number of rivers with many specíes of edible fishes.This nutritional peculiaríty may explain the superior results of t he amazonian r ural workers when compared to those working in the interior of the São Paulo .
In this State the food ingestion among the rural workers is mainly based on carbohydrates.Cert ainly the nutritional status plays a role , still to be quantítatively defined, as a det erminant of the physical capacity .One of the most important conclusion of the study was the demonstration that the physical performance of the amazonians is about the same as the inhabitants of the Interior o f the State of São Paulo .As a fundamental conclusion , we should state that to live in the tropical region of the Amazon, where temperatura and humidity are very high, apparently does not change the physical capacity of man.The only suggested difference was favorable to amazonians (rural workers) , and as discussed above, it may be related to a more balanced diet.• A continuation of the investigntion is needed.Other amazonians living in the interior and away from the sea should be studied.Other more involved experiments with indians should be sought rapidly, before the influence of civilization increases among them.In the near future, a more physiological technique has to be used in order to obtain new results to compare with those shown in the present paper.

ACKNOLEDGEMENTS
The auhtors are grateful to Professor Doctor Warwick Estevam Kerr, Director of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Doctor Luiz Miguel Scaff, Director of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi and Professor Nagib Matne, Director of Escola de Educação Física do Pará.

Figure 1 -
Figure 1 -Oevlce used in order to avold the retrograde movement of the pedal of the ergometric bicycle.

Figure 2 -
Figure 2 -Sequence of the test of physlcal per• formance .From the bottom to the top the lncrease of loads in watts (w) with respectiva time for exerci se.The black stiips mean 2 mlnute of rest.

Figure 3 -
Figure 3 -Evolution of the mean cardiac rate of the seven groups, during the first three stages of the test.

TABLE I -
Characteristlcs (age, height and welght) of the seven population used In the study ( • ) Meon ond stondord devlotlon.{ •• ) Figures In brocket lndlcote number of subjects,

TABLE 11 -
Average physical actlvitles per day of the persons tested Mean heart r ate before the physlcal exerci se and at the end of the flrst three stages of the physlcal