Dietary nutrients and anthropometry of Dene/Métis and Yukon children

Abstract

Excessive prevalence of overweight and inadequacy of some nutrients were observed among Dene/Métis and Yukon children, suggesting a necessity for dietary improvement. However, many nutrients were adequate, in some cases probably due to continued traditional food use.

Traditional food attributes must be included in studies of food security in the Canadian Arctic

“…These data confirm previous findings (14,15,30) that Arctic indigenous women associate traditional food with health. The sentiment that all traditional foodis healthy was among the top 5 responses in all regions, signifying an Arctic-wide appreciation of the health benefits of traditional food in general.…”

“…This research demonstrates universal perspectives that traditional food has many meaningful attributes that contribute to health and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples. Nakano, in 2004, showed that 79% of Yukon and Dene/Métis women preferred traditional food over store-bought meat (15). These results confirm that traditional food is very important to Arctic indigenous women and provide further information regarding the types of traditional food that are preferred.…”

“…Even with conservative safety guidelines and well-documented benefits of traditional food intake (14), health risks are difficult to determine because most traditional foods do not undergo testing for contaminants. Unfortunately, even when actual risk may be negligible, perceived risk may impede some indigenous peoples from consuming the amounts or types of traditional foods they prefer (15). Food security is jeopardized regardless of whether the risks to food safety are known or are perceived as significant.…”

Associations of television viewing, physical activity and dietary behaviours with obesity in aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadian youth

“…Estimates of the off-reserve aboriginal (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) population in the ten provinces indicate that aboriginal youth within this age group have the highest prevalence of overweight (41 %) and obesity (20 %), approximately 2?5 times higher than the national average. Poor dietary habits, low physical activity and high sedentary behaviours have been shown to be important determinants of obesity among aboriginal youth living in select communities (2)(3)(4)(5)(6) . However, such studies do not have direct comparison groups, and therefore it is unclear whether lifestyle behaviours of aboriginal youth, particularly those not living in First Nations communities, are comparable to levels among non-aboriginal youth.…”

Obesity and type 2 diabetes in Northern Canada's remote First Nations communities: the dietary dilemma

“…11,12 In Northern Canada, historical diets would have involved eating all food sources available on the land at any particular time, and almost all parts of the animals were consumed (that is, liver, gonads, gut, brain and bone marrow). 13 Figure 1 [14][15][16][17][18][19] and essential O3 and O6 fatty acids. [20][21][22] Even though the types of local food consumed recently have been well studied in various regions of Canada, 11,[14][15][16]19,21,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] the exact proportions of macronutrients and micronutrients traditionally consumed in an exclusively off-the-land diet remain difficult to assess.…”