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Abstract
The aboriginal diet of the Arctic Eskimo, which consisted mainly of land and sea mammals and fish, is analyzed with respect to its capacity to provide the nutrients now regarded as essential for nutritional health. It is concluded that, despite its remarkably restricted composition, the native diet is capable of furnishing all the essential nutritional elements when prepared and consumed according to traditional customs. However, its low carbohydrate and high protein content necessitated major metabolic adaptations in energy and nitrogen metabolism. Erosion of the traditional diet culture and life style has been accompanied by a decline in nutritional status.
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Potential for other diseases:
The traditional Inuit (Eskimo) diet is a no-carb diet. It is notable that the Inuit diet described by Drs Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Hugh Sinclair in the 1950s is very similar in regard to percentages of fat/protein/carb intake to the experimental low-carb diets used in recent obesity studies.[xvi] The Inuit diet was comprised of seal, whale, salmon, and a very limited amount of berries and the partially digested contents of animals’ stomachs. On this diet, blood cholesterol levels were very high as were free fatty acids, but – and this in much more important – triglycerides were low.[xvii] [xviii] It is interesting to note that the Inuit were of great interest to research scientists because they had practically none of the diseases we suffer, including obesity, coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus.[xix] [xx]
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Last updated 11 June 2005 |
