How did Eskimos get their vitamins? Specifically, the most common source of Vitamin C is citrus fruits…I know there must be others, but what did Eskimos eat in order to get the stuff? Also, isn’t Vitamin D mainly generated by sunlight reacting with the body? How did the Eskimos keep up Vitamin D levels during a several-month-long winter? (or does the human body keep high enough levels that people can last several months without additional Vitamin D?)
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Citrus fruits aren’t the only source of Vitamin C; I believe they’re also present in fresh meat. As for Vitamin D, most fish are filled with the stuff.
If what I read by Farley Mowat and what I remember form nutrition 1A is right, fish aren’t that important a source of winter food. Ok for protein and calories, but little fat or fat soluble vitamins, and difficult to obtain except for coastal tribes. The real secret IIRC were the livers and fat stores of polar mammals such as Caribou, seals and whales, I believe they had the ability to store vitamins that more temperate dwelling animals don’t. I’m really dragging the ole memory basement on this one though. This much I’m pretty sure of; if you want to gross out a vegetarian, show them a passage in Mowats’ “People of the Deer,” (I think), it describes an Eskimo smorgasbord that will make any major canivore a bit squeamish,
Larry
Ivick: After a Necropsy i participated in a few years ago, nothing makes me squeamish anymore (We were carving up dead sealions, a dolphin, and various other things).
Inuits also eat everything raw… Since they do not cook it, they don’t destroy the vitamins. I was watching a show about them, and when they hunt seals, they eat the blubber and choice pieces on the spot. And for those who are concerned about those “poor” animals, the Inuit try to kill the animals quickly so they dont suffer.
“Let me show you something
that you’ve never seen before
like a light im gonna shine on you
forever is a word i dont often get to say
but if you say it loud enough i’ll say it too”