# Inuit peoples and nutrition

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inuit-peoples-and-nutrition/108026>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 9, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inuit-peoples-and-nutrition/108026 "2002-05-09T04:21:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inuit-peoples-and-nutrition/108026/1 "2002-05-09T04:21:19Z")

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The traditional diet of the Inuit has a lot of fish, seals, fowl, and so on, but is pretty poor in greens, roots, and berries, and apparently even in some places can include no plants at all.

What are the health effects of a diet like that which is really skewed from the prespective of the food groups or nutrition pyramid we’re all taught in school? Do or did the Inuit suffer from lots of scurvy, beriberi, and other nutritional diseases? If they didn’t, then why not?

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**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inuit-peoples-and-nutrition/108026/2 "2002-05-09T04:43:40Z")

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From [this site](http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/Boschma.htm) **wevets** :

> [@](#):
>
> It can be concluded that the native diet, despite its lack of variety, is capable of furnishing all the nutrients essential for nutritional health, provided it is available in adequate amounts and is prepared according to traditional methods. In the historical perspective, the nutritional crises of Eskimos were mainly the results of failures in their food supply associated with the misfortunes of hunting rather than of inadequacies in the quality of their indigenous diet

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**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inuit-peoples-and-nutrition/108026/3 "2002-05-09T06:18:29Z")

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Cecil’s done this one:

> **[Traditionally Eskimos ate only meat and fish. Why didn’t they get scurvy?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343509/traditionally-eskimos-ate-only-meat-and-fish-why-didn-t-they-get-scurvy)**
>
> Dear Cecil:
> Why didn't Eskimos get scurvy before citrus was introduced to their diet? They have a traditional diet of almost entirely meat and fish. Where did they get their vitamin C?
> Kevin...