Risk tradeoffs associated with traditional food advisories for Labrador Inuit

Date
2019-01-01Author
Calder, Ryan S. D.
Bromage, Sabri
Sunderland, Elsie M.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The traditional Inuit diet includes wild birds, fish and marine mammals, which can contain high concentrations of the neurotoxicant methylmercury (MeHg). Hydroelectric development may increase MeHg concentrations in traditional foods. Consumption advisories are often used to mitigate such risks and can result in reduced intake of traditional foods. Data from a dietary survey, MeHg exposure assessment and risk analysis for individuals in three Inuit communities in Labrador, Canada (n = 1145) in 2014 indicate reducing traditional food intake is likely to exacerbate deficiencies in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins B12 and B2. Traditional foods accounted for < 5% of per-capita calories but up to 70% of nutrients consumed. Although consumption advisories could lower neurodevelopmental risks associated with an increase in MeHg exposure (90th-percentile ∆IQ = − 0.12 vs. − 0.34), they may lead to greater risks of cardiovascular mortality (90th-percentile increase: + 58% to + 116% vs. + 25%) and cancer mortality (90th-percentile increase + 2% to + 4% vs. no increase). Conversely, greater consumption of locally caught salmon mostly unaffected by hydroelectric flooding would lower all these risks (90th-percentile ∆IQ = + 0.4; cardiovascular risk: − 45%; cancer risk: − 1.4%). We thus conclude that continued consumption of traditional foods is essential for Inuit health in these communities.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Advance booking across channels: The effects on dynamic pricing
Bigne, Enrique; Nicolau, Juan Luis; William, Edu (Elsevier, 2021-10-01)This research analyzes the effects of advance booking and channel type on hotel rates. While this relationship has been addressed in the literature, most studies take a partial approach by focusing only on one distribution ... -
Nicotiana species as surrogate host for studying the pathogenicity of Acidovorax citrulli, the causal agent of bacterial fruit blotch of cucurbits
Traore, Sy M.; Eckshtain-Levi, Noam; Miao, Jiamin; Sparks, Anita Castro; Wang, Zhibo; Wang, Kunru; Li, Qi; Burdman, Saul; Walcott, Ron; Welbaum, Gregory E.; Zhao, Bingyu (WILEY, 2019-06-01)© 2019 The Authors. Molecular Plant Pathology Published by British Society for Plant Pathology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) caused by Acidovorax citrulli is one of the most important bacterial ... -
Decadal fates and impacts of nitrogen additions on temperate forest carbon storage: a data-model comparison
Cheng, Susan J.; Hess, Peter G.; Wieder, William R.; Thomas, R. Quinn; Nadelhoffer, Knute J.; Vira, Julius; Lombardozzi, Danica L.; Gundersen, Per; Fernandez, Ivan J.; Schleppi, Patrick; Gruselle, Marie-Cecile; Moldan, Filip; Goodale, Christine L. (Copernicus, 2019-07-16)To accurately capture the impacts of nitrogen (N) on the land carbon (C) sink in Earth system models, model responses to both N limitation and ecosystem N additions (e.g., from atmospheric N deposition and fertilizer) need ...