To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D?
Inuit have vitamin D blood levels that generally fall within the range of insufficiency, even when they live on a traditional diet of fish and game meat. Without this vitamin, bones soften and become deformed, a condition called rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Until recent times, how...
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2016
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fterudit:oai:erudit.org:1055442ar 2023-05-15T16:08:12+02:00 To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? Frost, Peter 2016 http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1055442ar https://doi.org/10.7202/1055442ar en eng Centre interuniversitaire d’études et de recherches autochtones (CIÉRA) Érudit Études Inuit Studies vol. 40 no. 2 (2016) http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1055442ar doi:10.7202/1055442ar Tous droits réservés © La revue Études Inuit Studies, 2019 text 2016 fterudit https://doi.org/10.7202/1055442ar 2022-09-24T23:17:55Z Inuit have vitamin D blood levels that generally fall within the range of insufficiency, even when they live on a traditional diet of fish and game meat. Without this vitamin, bones soften and become deformed, a condition called rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Until recent times, however, this condition was much rarer among Inuit than among non-Inuit, even when the latter included people living near Inuit communities under similar conditions of climate and housing. This rarity was attributed to extended breastfeeding and a high-meat/low-cereal diet. The situation subsequently reversed, with Inuit becoming more at risk of developing rickets, first in Labrador during the 1920s and later elsewhere. To reduce this excess risk, researchers have recommended vitamin D supplementation, arguing that breast milk has too little vitamin D and that even a traditional diet cannot provide the recommended daily intake. We should ask, however, whether the problem is definitional. Inuit may have lower levels of vitamin D because they need less, having adapted culturally and physiologically to an environment where this vitamin is less easily synthesized in the skin. These adaptations include a diet that enhances calcium bioavailability (by means of β-casein in breast milk, certain unknown substances in meat, and absence of phytic acid), as well as genetic changes that enable vitamin D to be used more efficiently. Although Inuit are today more at risk of developing rickets than are non-Inuit, this excess risk is nonetheless small and seems to have a dietary cause—namely, early weaning and abandonment of a high-meat/low-cereal diet. Les Inuit affichent un taux sanguin de vitamine D se situant généralement dans la zone d’insuffisance, même lorsqu’ils mangent une alimentation traditionnelle de poisson et de gibier. Sans cette vitamine, les os se ramollissent et se déforment, condition appelée « rachitisme » pendant l’enfance et « ostéomalacie » à l’âge adulte. Cependant, jusqu’à une période récente, cette condition ... Text Études/Inuit/Studies inuit Érudit.org (Université Montréal) Études Inuit Studies 40 2 271 291 |
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Érudit.org (Université Montréal) |
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English |
description |
Inuit have vitamin D blood levels that generally fall within the range of insufficiency, even when they live on a traditional diet of fish and game meat. Without this vitamin, bones soften and become deformed, a condition called rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Until recent times, however, this condition was much rarer among Inuit than among non-Inuit, even when the latter included people living near Inuit communities under similar conditions of climate and housing. This rarity was attributed to extended breastfeeding and a high-meat/low-cereal diet. The situation subsequently reversed, with Inuit becoming more at risk of developing rickets, first in Labrador during the 1920s and later elsewhere. To reduce this excess risk, researchers have recommended vitamin D supplementation, arguing that breast milk has too little vitamin D and that even a traditional diet cannot provide the recommended daily intake. We should ask, however, whether the problem is definitional. Inuit may have lower levels of vitamin D because they need less, having adapted culturally and physiologically to an environment where this vitamin is less easily synthesized in the skin. These adaptations include a diet that enhances calcium bioavailability (by means of β-casein in breast milk, certain unknown substances in meat, and absence of phytic acid), as well as genetic changes that enable vitamin D to be used more efficiently. Although Inuit are today more at risk of developing rickets than are non-Inuit, this excess risk is nonetheless small and seems to have a dietary cause—namely, early weaning and abandonment of a high-meat/low-cereal diet. Les Inuit affichent un taux sanguin de vitamine D se situant généralement dans la zone d’insuffisance, même lorsqu’ils mangent une alimentation traditionnelle de poisson et de gibier. Sans cette vitamine, les os se ramollissent et se déforment, condition appelée « rachitisme » pendant l’enfance et « ostéomalacie » à l’âge adulte. Cependant, jusqu’à une période récente, cette condition ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Frost, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Frost, Peter To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
author_facet |
Frost, Peter |
author_sort |
Frost, Peter |
title |
To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
title_short |
To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
title_full |
To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
title_fullStr |
To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
title_full_unstemmed |
To Supplement or Not to Supplement: Are Inuit Getting Enough Vitamin D? |
title_sort |
to supplement or not to supplement: are inuit getting enough vitamin d? |
publisher |
Centre interuniversitaire d’études et de recherches autochtones (CIÉRA) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1055442ar https://doi.org/10.7202/1055442ar |
genre |
Études/Inuit/Studies inuit |
genre_facet |
Études/Inuit/Studies inuit |
op_relation |
Études Inuit Studies vol. 40 no. 2 (2016) http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1055442ar doi:10.7202/1055442ar |
op_rights |
Tous droits réservés © La revue Études Inuit Studies, 2019 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7202/1055442ar |
container_title |
Études Inuit Studies |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
271 |
op_container_end_page |
291 |
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