The Health and Nutritional Status of Alaskan Eskimos

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate this question and to consider the necessity of remedial action.

Vitamin C in Inuit Traditional Food and Women's Diets

“…Vitamin C values have been reported previously for several Inuit TF (Hoygaard, 1941;Rodahl, 1950;Hjarde et al, 1952;Brown, 1954;Heller and Scott, 1967;Mann et al, 1962;Hoffman et al, 1967;Hoppner et al, 1978;Geraci and Smith, 1979;Helms, 1985). Unfortunately, the location of harvest, species, sample size, storage methods and proximate composition values were not routinely given.…”

“…Levels of vitamin C in blueberries (Vaccinium uliginosum) were considerably higher with an average value of 26.20 mg/100 g with a CV between replicates of 18%. Previous published analyses of Vaccinium vitis-idaea (Rodahl, 1950;Hjarde et al, 1952;Brown, 1954;Mann et al, 1962) and Empetrum nigrum (Hoygaard, 1941;Brown, 1954;Hoffman et al, 1967;Kuhnlein, 1989) reported a range of vitamin C between 17-108 and 9-51 mg/100 g, respectively. The values reported here indicate a significantly lower level.…”

“…Mattak (whale skin) has always been a highly favoured TF and was considered by the Danes as an excellent preventative against scurvy, often more effective than available fruits and vegetables (Bertelsen, 1911in Hoygaard, 1941. Samples of raw beluga mattak (n¼6) contained vitamin C levels of 36.0278.73 mg/100 g. Previous reports indicated vitamin C values for raw beluga mattak at 2-25 mg/100 g (Hjarde et al, 1952;Mann et al, 1962;Geraci and Smith, 1979;Helms, 1985). Boiled beluga mattak (n¼2) contained 23.6374.66 mg/ 100 g of vitamin C. There were no previous reported values for boiled mattak.…”

“…roe (the only fish eggs analysed). Cisco roe (n¼2) contained vitamin C levels of 49.60712.30 mg/100 g. There was one previous reported value of 7 mg/100 g of vitamin C in cisco eggs (Mann et al, 1962). Whales are important to Inuit socially, culturally, economically and as a food source.…”

“…Unfortunately, the location of harvest, species, sample size, storage methods and proximate composition values were not routinely given. Analytical methods for vitamin C described in some papers include titration with 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol (Hoygaard, 1941;Hjarde et al, 1952;Hoffman et al, 1967;Rodahl, 1949;) and determination with the derivative of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (Heller and Scott, 1967;Mann et al, 1962;Geraci and Smith, 1979). These methods are known to be subject to interferences, lack specificity for vitamin C and have low sensitivity (Washko et al, 1992).…”