PMID- 15325148
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20041018
LR  - 20131121
IS  - 0048-9697 (Print)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 331
IP  - 1-3
DP  - 2004 Sep 20
TI  - Dietary composition in Greenland 2000, plasma fatty acids and persistent organic 
      pollutants.
PG  - 177-88
AB  - Human exposure to pollution in the Arctic presents a potential future health risk 
      for the local populations. Epidemiological studies in Greenland have shown that 
      human blood levels of several organic contaminants are very high, especially in 
      the North where people depend on local food. In East Greenland (Ittoqqortoormiit 
      (Scoresbysund)) the population shows the highest blood levels of several 
      persistent organic pollutants found in Arctic countries, especially PCB, the 
      levels of which exceed Canadian guideline levels. As in other Arctic countries, 
      the direct source of these contaminants is the diet, and it is, therefore 
      important to monitor the composition of the diet along with other factors which 
      may influence the metabolism and thereby the accumulation of toxic substances. 
      This project is part of the human health program of the ongoing circumpolar 
      'Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme'. Dietary survey results 
      (Semiquantitative Food Frequency questionnaire from 192 men and women from East 
      Greenland and 48 men from Uummannaq West Greenland) were analysed along with 
      other factors (lifestyle and anthropometric factors), blood lipids, fatty acid 
      profiles, and concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The dietary 
      survey showed that the contributions of traditional food provided 25-30% of the 
      total energy intake. However, the relative monthly meal intake of seal, whale, 
      polar bear, fish and game, and the composition of imported food, varied between 
      districts. The blood fatty acids (FA), e.g. the n-3/n-6 ratio (Uummannaq 0.70, 
      Ittoqqortoormiit 0.37 Tassiilaq 0.45) showed moderate associations with the 
      overall reported food composition. The n-3 fatty acids were associated with the 
      well-known lowering effect on serum-triglyceride levels. The strongest 
      associations between diet and plasma fatty acids were found for docosapentaenoic 
      acid, C: 22.5.3 which strongly correlated with reported seal, and polar bear 
      intake (P=0.01** and 0.04*, respectively), consistent with the fact that seal and 
      polar bear blubber contain much higher concentrations of C: 22.5.3 than other sea 
      mammals and fish. Seal and polar bear intake, and in particular all the plasma 
      n-3 fatty acids, were significantly correlated with organic contaminant 
      concentrations, (betaHCH, chlordanes, DDTs, Hexachlorobenzene, Mirex, PCBs, and 
      toxaphenes) P<0.01**. CONCLUSIONS: The strongest correlations between POPs and 
      fatty acids were found with C: 22.5.3, strongly indicating seal and polar bear 
      blubber as the main contributors of POPs to the local population.
FAU - Deutch, Bente
AU  - Deutch B
AD  - Centre of Arctic Environmental Medicine, Aarhus University, Vennelyst Boulevard 
      6, DK 8000, Aarhus, Denmark. bd@mil.au.dk
FAU - Pedersen, Henning Sloth
AU  - Pedersen HS
FAU - Hansen, Jens C
AU  - Hansen JC
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
RN  - 0 (Environmental Pollutants)
RN  - 0 (Fatty Acids)
RN  - 0 (Insecticides)
RN  - DFC2HB4I0K (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Animals
MH  - Arctic Regions
MH  - *Diet
MH  - Diet Surveys
MH  - Energy Intake
MH  - Environmental Pollutants/analysis/*pharmacokinetics
MH  - Fatty Acids/blood
MH  - Female
MH  - *Food Contamination
MH  - Greenland
MH  - Humans
MH  - Insecticides/analysis/*pharmacokinetics
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Polychlorinated Biphenyls/analysis/*pharmacokinetics
MH  - *Public Health
MH  - Seafood
MH  - Seals, Earless
MH  - Ursidae
MH  - Whales
EDAT- 2004/08/25 05:00
MHDA- 2004/10/19 09:00
CRDT- 2004/08/25 05:00
PHST- 2004/03/01 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2004/08/25 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2004/10/19 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2004/08/25 05:00 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(04)00209-8 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.028 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2004 Sep 20;331(1-3):177-88. doi: 
      10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.028.