Search

Background: The nitrogen isotope ratio (NIR) is a promising index of traditional food intake for an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population, which can be measured in blood and hair. However, the NIR has not been calibrated to high-quality measures of Yup'ik traditional food intake.Objectives: Our primary objective was to examine associations between intakes of Yup'ik traditional food groups, including fish, marine mammals, birds, land mammals, berries, greens, and total traditional foods, and the NIR. In an exploratory analysis, we also examined whether NIR analyzed sequentially along hair could reflect dietary seasonality.Methods: We recruited 68 participants from 2 Yup'ik communities in the Yukon Kuskokwim region of Southwest Alaska (49% female, aged 14-79 y). Participants completed 4 unscheduled 24-h food recalls over the period peak of RBC and hair synthesis preceding a specimen collection visit. The NIR was measured in RBCs ( n = 68), a proximal hair section (n = 58), and sequential segments of hair from individuals in the upper 2 quartiles of traditional food intake having hair >6 cm in length, plus 2 low subsistence participants for reference (n = 18). Diet-biomarker associations were assessed using Pearson's correlation and linear regression.Results: Intakes of fish, marine mammals, berries, and greens were significantly associated with the NIR. The strongest dietary association was with total traditional food intake (R2 = 0.62), which indicated that each 1‰ increase in the RBC NIR corresponded to 8% of energy from traditional foods. Hair NIR appeared to fluctuate seasonally in some individuals, peaking in the summertime.Conclusions: Findings support the use of the RBC and hair NIR to assess total traditional food intake in a Yup'ik population. Analyses of sequential hair NIR provided evidence of seasonality in traditional food intake, although seasonal variations were modest relative to interindividual variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Anthropology and Historic Preservation–Cooperative Park Studies Unit (AHP-CPSU) which was tasked with National Park Service (NPS) regulatory responsibilities to implement Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Topics dsicussed include technical assistance to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), impacts of erosional processes on former Yup'ik settlements along the Yukon's northern bank and cultural history in the lower Yukon area.

Focuses on the Bethel Therapeutic Court in a study of how therapeutic courts align with Yup'ik and community based notions of justice. Dominant approach to justice in Yukon Kuskokwim Delta; Native American notions of justice; Erosion of cultural ways in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta; Solutions to alcoholism in the Bethel Service Region.