Arctic health problems and environmental challenges in Greenland

Abstract

The traditional diet in Greenland is to a large extend based upon marine animals and fish (Deutch 2004). Today the Greenlandic diet is a mixture of traditional food and imported food, this is the way it has been for some generations. Due to weather conditions most of fresh food come from wild animals or fish. Greenland has a production of lamb and a limited supply of vegetables but most produced foods are imported from outside. A large part of the diet still stem from seafood, fish or sea animals, but imported fabricated foods are expected to continue to take over an increasing part of their energy consumption (Deutch 2004, Mulvad 1996). In any community it is important how food is produced, how it is prepared and how it is consumed. These things are important to the individual and for the way people come together. That is why food is more than just getting the necessary nutrition, it is also essential for social life and the ways families function. Since food is increasingly imported and come in full or almost full fabricated forms the quality of nutrition changes. Along with this public health may be affected as well as the social aspect of eating and preparing the meals. Still the traditional diet is very important to the population culturally and financially. It is also of importance in order to get sufficient nutrients, because in many places imported food is available mostly in poor quality (Deutch 2004, Pars 2000). High levels of long range transported contaminants to the Arctic have been documented by (AMAP 2003). In Greenland high contents of organic contaminants are found in people (Hansen et al 2002, Deutch 1998, Deutch et al. 2000) and the pollution has reached a level of concern. However, the replacement of traditional food by substandard, imported food is of significant concern. Pollutants that accumulate in this part of the food chain can best be studied in the Inuit population. Other dietary studies focusing upon a diet rich in fat, like n-3 fatty acids, have been subject to study (Dyerberg 1975). However, much more could be done. The partly isolated Inuit population with its ethnic background provides new opportunities for genetic studies, as well as studies on the health impact of unique social circumstances, light and extreme cold weather. Greenland is now in a transition between a disease pattern characterized by acute diseases, mainly infections, and chronic diseases, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This transition took place in Europe many decades ago but now we have a chance to study the process with modern technology. Organization and logistic of the health care system in sparsely populated Arctic regions is of great interest. Further more Greenland has public health problems which more than anything require a long term strategy for prevention.