Markedly increased intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar is associated with the rise of coronary heart disease and diabetes among the Alaskan Inuit

In a recent issue of the journal, DiNicolantonio published evidence suggesting that an increase in the intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar paralleled the rise in the incidence of atherosclerotic disease in the Greenland Inuit.1 Thus, we sought to ascertain if a similar trend occurred in Alaskan Inuit by reviewing the literature as far back as the 1950s. Because of their relative isolation prior to the 1950s, studying the dietary changes that occurred in the Alaskan Inuit in the following decades can provide great insight into potential factors that may have caused a decline in their health. The Inuit are said to be descendants of the Thule people who originally came to North America 3000 years ago from Asia through Siberia and the Bering Strait.2 The Inuit then travelled from Northwest Alaska towards Canada and Greenland and also south towards inland regions of Alaska. This paper will discuss Alaskan natives in general and Alaskan Inuit in particular. In 1972, Dr Sheldon A Feldman, MD, and colleagues published a study on the Inuit living on Alaska’s North Slope (Point Hope). During the early 1970s, the Eskimos of Point Hope (known as the ‘Tigara’ people) were one of the few Inuit villages that still subsisted on whale and seal meat and blubber. Only two other villages at the time along Alaska’s North Slope continued the traditional hunting of whales using harpoons during the spring months. In the spring and early summer, these North Slope Alaskan Inuit mainly relied on catching and eating seal, walrus and fish. In the summer, the main dietary staple was caribou, and in winter, they would occasionally catch and eat polar bear. The consumption of grains and other carbohydrates was low due to the high cost of their import.2 It has been estimated that the …