The Health and Nutritional Status of Alaskan Eskimos: A Survey of the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense—1958

Abstract

The Alaskan aboriginal people have had, and continue to have, a remarkably successful adaptation to their rigorous and unique food supply. This adaptation is imperiled in the cultural transition they are now undergoing. Specific nutritional deficiencies are not a health problem at this time. Infectious disease is the main health problem, and no obvious way appears whereby nutritional improvement will affect this situation. Housing and medical care seem more important than dietary improvement. Two dietary “riddles” appear among these people. The intake of vitamin C is often low but scurvy is not seen. This may be accounted for by a sporadic intake of a few exceptionally rich sources of vitamin C in the diet, e.g., willow leaves and cloudberries, aided by effective if unpremeditated ways of preserving these during winter. The other riddle involves vitamin A. The food sources of vitamin A are rich and plentiful, and yet the plasma levels are often low, and clinical signs suggesting past or present deficiency are seen. It is suspected but not established that vitamin A deprivation may contribute to the problem of phlyctenular keratoconjunctivitis. Studies of the absorption and utilization of vitamin A in these people are needed. Dental disease is rampant and increasing. It appears related to the cultural transition, being a more serious problem in the more acculturated groups. Two opportunities are presented: (1) to study the pathogenesis of dental disease and (2) to minimize the ravages of a diet perhaps damaged by same dietary change. The Eskimo people deserve and need medical and technical help. It appears inevitable that they will be acculturated and in time will leave their barren ground. Unless the medical and social assistance now given by the state and federal governments and private charities is augmented, this noble and resourceful people will continue to suffer from the health hazards and physical limitations which were characteristic of the rest of the United States over fifty years ago. There is an opportunity in Alaska to prevent all this waste of human beings with modern methods of public health and medical science. The present efforts in Alaska are insufficient for the tasks.