Arctic Science Journeys
Radio Script
1996

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Native Health
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STORY: Alaska's Eskimos have always been extraordinarily healthy people. The seals, caribou, salmon, and other foods from the land and sea have for centuries given them energy and prevented disease. But as times change, so too has the Native lifestyle. Instead of seals, Alaska Eskimos are increasingly stalking supermarket shelves for foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol. The result, say medical researchers and physicians, is an alarming increase in heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.

Dr. Sven Ebbesson is a medical researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"We have found a much higher prevalence of diabetes than we suspected, certainly much higher than 20-30 years ago. Heart disease has probably increased fivefold in Eskimos populations over the last 30 years, and hypertension is a big problem."

Ebbesson's findings are based on studies of 452 Yupik and Inupiaq Eskimos in four villages on the Norton Sound. The research is part of ongoing efforts by the Alaska-Siberia Medical Research Program to chronicle the health of Alaska Natives. Ebbesson blames a lack of exercise and poor diet for the decline in Native health.

"I guess the most striking thing we have found is that people we have studied are much more sedentary than we realized. That has resulted in these problems. At the same time, people are clearly eating much more than they used to and the result is that we have a lot of overweight people, a lot of obesity--that has resulted in things like hypertension and so on, and contributes to diabetes too."

Dr. Betsy Nobmann is chief of nutrition at the Alaska Area Native Health Service in Anchorage. She says that while traditional foods still account for more than half the protein, iron and other nutrients in the Eskimo diet, an increasingly unhealthy portion of their food comes from the store.

"We do encourage people to eat a diet that is based on traditional foods because we've found that those are healthier for Alaska Natives than some of the food purchased in the store. Those happen to have a fairly high saturated fat content, so unless one is making very selective choices at the store, you end up having a higher intake of saturated fat."

Nobmann works directly with health care providers across the state to encourage the consumption of traditional foods and teach consumers to make informed choices at the grocery store. She says grocery stores themselves should offer healthier choices as well.

"You can find good food at the store, but it takes more effort--you have to work at it. The store owners have to buy beef that is the lowest fat content, for example, and not regular hamburger that is 23 or 30 percent fat in it because that is where all the saturated fat content is."

Ebbesson says additional studies are being planned to see if Athabascans and other Native groups are experiencing similar increases in heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. For Arctic Science Journeys, this is Debra Damron.