International Journal of Circumpolar Health 66:1 2007 STABLE ISOTOPES AND NUTRITION IN ALASKA NATIVES AGE-RELATED VARIATION IN RED BLOOD CELL STABLE ISOTOPE RATIOS (δ13C AND δ15N) FROM TWO YUPIK VILLAGES IN SOUTHWEST ALASKA: A PILOT STUDY

• Main Authors: Michael J. Wilkinson, Youlim Yai, Diane M. O’brien
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Yup’ik; diet assessment; stable isotopes; marine subsistence Internationa; Fairbanks; Yupik; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.691.9744; http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/viewFile/18222/20916/

Objectives. A significant fraction of the Alaska Native population appears to be shifting from a primarily subsistence-based diet to a market-based diet; therefore, the ability to link diet pattern to disease risk has become increasingly important to predicting public health needs. Our research aims to develop the use of stable isotope ratios as diet pattern biomarkers, based on naturally-occurring isotopic differences in the elemental composition of subsistence and non-subsistence foods. These differences are reflected in human blood, hair and fingernail isotope signatures. Study design. In this preliminary study, we investigate the potential for C and 5N to serve as dietary biomarkers for age-related dietary differences in a subset of participants involved with a long-term study initiated by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Methods. We measured δC and δ5N in red blood cells collected from “elder ” participants (age 60+ yrs) and younger participants (age -9 yrs). Samples were evenly divided between males and females, and between two villages sampled in 00. We also sampled market and subsistence foods in Fairbanks, AK, as an indicator of the isotopic differences likely to be observed in village