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Objectives: The fatty acid composition and other nutrients in traditional Inuit food appear to provide some protection against diseases of affluent industrialized societies, such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. A transition towards increased amounts of imported food might increase the occurrence of these diseases among Inuit. However, since the 1970s it has become evident that the marine-based Inuit diet also contains high levels of potentially toxic lipophilic organic pollutants and heavy metals. Since these two opposing effects on health appear to be inseparable, the phenomenon has become known as "The Arctic Dilemma". However, both the fatty acid composition and the contaminant levels vary in Greenlandic food items. Thus, in theory, it is possible to compose a diet where the benefits outweigh the risks. Our objective was to compare traditional and modern meals in Greenland regarding dietary composition, content of n-3 fatty acids and contaminants., Study Design: The present study was part of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, AMAP, comparing the results of dietary composition and nutrients in 177 traditional meals collected in Uummannaq municipality, north Greenland in 1976 with 90 meals sampled in Uummannaq town in 2004 under similar conditions. Eleven pesticides, 14 PCB congeners, heavy metals, selenium, and fatty acids were analysed in meals and blood samples from the participants. Contaminant levels were compared between 1976 and 2004 after adjustment for n-3 fatty acids, indicating local food content., Results: Between the traditional meals collected 30 years ago and the meals from 2004, dramatic and significant changes have occurred in the dietary composition. The percentage of local food has decreased, and with it the intake of n-3 fatty acids. Calculated as daily intake, all but three contaminants had decreased significantly. However, this could be explained by the lower intake of local food. After adjustment for n-3 fatty acid content in the food, significant declines of concentration in the local food were evident only for PCBs and lead, whereas for mercury, DDTs, and chlordanes the levels were unchanged, and for hexachlorobenzene, mirex, and toxaphenes, the levels had increased significantly., Conclusion: The consumption of locally produced food has decreased in Greenland during the last 30 years and this has led to a reduction in the daily intake of contaminants. However, the concentrations of contaminants in local food items have not decreased, except for PCB and Lead. Therefore, we recommend that the consumption of local products is not increased beyond the present level, until the level of contaminants is reduced to a safer level.

Temporal trends of mercury (Hg) in West Greenland gyrfalcons, peregrine falcons, and white-tailed eagles were determined over 150 years from 1851 to 2003. Hg was measured in the fifth primary feather. Results showed that Hg increased in the order gyrfalcon (lowest) < peregrine falcon (intermediate) < white-tailed eagle (highest). All species showed significant age accumulations, which were taken into account in the temporal trend analysis. Of eight time trend analyses (three species and three age groups of which one was missing), seven showed an increase in primary feather concentrations. Of these, four were significant at the 5% level, two were close to being significant, and one was not significant. The linear regressions of which three out of four showed significant increases were for juvenile and immature gyrfalcon and juvenile peregrine falcon, which covered only periods prior to 1960, owing to limited data from the last half-century. The two sample comparisons of Hg 10-year medians for adult peregrine falcons and juvenile and adult white-tailed eagles indicated a continued increase during recent decades. However, low levels of Hg in a few recent collections among gyrfalcons and peregrines could indicate a change in the increasing trend.

Mercury concentrations in hair from 397 Greenland polar bears (Ursusmaritimus) sampled between 1892 and 2001 were analyzed for temporal trends. In East Greenland the concentrations showed a significant (p < 0.0001, n = 27) increase of 3.1%/year in the period 1892-1973. In Northwest Greenland, a similar (p < 0.0001, n = 69) increase of 2.1%/year was found, which continued until 1991, when the most recent samples were obtained. In East Greenland, a significant (p = 0.009, n = 322) decrease of 0.8%/year was observed after 1973. Two Northwest Greenland samples from 1300 A.D. had a mean value of 0.52 mg/kg of dry weight, which can be considered as a baseline level. The Hg concentration during 1985-1991 from Northwest Greenland (mean value of 7.45 mg/kg of dry weight) was more than 14-fold higher than the assumed baseline level from 1300 A.D. from the same region (i.e., about 93% anthropogenic). Although a decrease was found in East Greenland after 1973, the concentration is still ca. 11-fold higher than the baseline level (i.e., about 90% anthropogenic).