Dietary intake of vitamin D in a northern Canadian Dené First Nation community

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Joyce Slater, Linda Larcombe, Chris Green, Caroline Slivinski, Matthew Singer, Lizette Denechezhe, Chris Whaley, Peter Nickerson, Pamela Orr
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2013
• Subjects: vitamin D; First Nations; indigenous; Aboriginal; diet; nutrition; food security; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Canada; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.20723; https://doaj.org/article/d0f2ba0517e74131bc24317afe208ce7

Background. Increased awareness of the wide spectrum of activity of vitamin D has focused interest on its role in the health of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, who bear a high burden of both infectious and chronic disease. Cutaneous vitamin D synthesis is limited at northern latitudes, and the transition from nutrient-dense traditional to nutrient-poor market foods has left many Canadian Aboriginal populations food insecure and nutritionally vulnerable. Objective. The study was undertaken to determine the level of dietary vitamin D in a northern Canadian Aboriginal (Dené) community and to determine the primary food sources of vitamin D. Design. Cross-sectional study. Methods. Dietary vitamin D intakes of 46 adult Dené men and women were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and compared across age, gender, season and body mass index. The adequacy of dietary vitamin D intake was assessed using the 2007 Adequate Intake (AI) and the 2011 Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) values for Dietary Reference Intake (DRI). Results. Mean daily vitamin D intake was 271.4 IU in winter and 298.3 IU in summer. Forty percent and 47.8% of participants met the vitamin D 1997 AI values in winter and summer, respectively; this dropped to 11.1 and 13.0% in winter and summer using 2011 RDA values. Supplements, milk, and local fish were positively associated with adequate vitamin D intake. Milk and local fish were the major dietary sources of vitamin D. Conclusions. Dietary intake of vitamin D in the study population was low. Only 2 food sources, fluid milk and fish, provided the majority of dietary vitamin D. Addressing low vitamin D intake in this population requires action aimed at food insecurity present in northern Aboriginal populations.