Tag: Inuit

A significant majority of Arctic Indigenous populations, including Inuit, possess a genetic predisposition to lactose intolerance. Historically, this stems from a traditional, dairy-free diet and has led to a high prevalence of lactase non-persistence, meaning they cannot digest the lactose in milk after infancy.

Despite the persistent myth of a carbohydrate-free existence, traditional Inuit diets did contain fiber, sourced from both land and sea. Understanding how Inuits get fiber requires looking beyond Western dietary norms to their ingenious use of native plants and the contents of the animals they hunted.

For millennia, the traditional Inuit diet, rich in marine mammal fats and fatty fish, has provided a reliable source of vitamin D, allowing them to thrive in regions with minimal sun exposure. This success is a result of a fascinating interplay between their high-fat diet, cultural practices, and physiological evolution.