Benefits and risks of traditional food for Indigenous Peoples: focus on dietary intakes of Arctic men

Abstract

A variety of community and external pressures on Indigenous Peoples are leading to increased use of food that is available through industrialization and market economies; food in traditional food systems derived from local, natural environments is declining in use. This report focusses on dietary intake of Arctic men. While nutrient density of Arctic traditional food systems is superior to that of the composite of market food consumed in the North, the percentage of men's daily energy derived from market food is more than double that from traditional food in some communities. Older members of communities consume more traditional food than younger members; men consume more traditional food than do women. In addition to providing excellent nutrition and opportunities for physical exercise, Indigenous Peoples identify many sociocultural benefits to the harvest and use of traditional food. Evaluation of environmental accumulation of organochlorines in wildlife animal food species shows that risk of organochlorine consumption is higher in food systems containing sea mammals, and that tolerance levels for some organochlorines may be exceeded.Key words: Indigenous Peoples, traditional food, contaminants, nutrition.