Eskimo's do not have heart attacks.

[treeman]

All the years we have been told that Eskimo's eat huge amounts of meat and do not have cardio issues or cholesterol, we have even been told the reasons for them being able to live on a diet of fat.
The truth how ever seems a bit other than the urban legend.

Traditional Inuit diets derive approximately 50% of their calories from fat, 30–35% from protein and 15–20% of their calories from carbohydrates, largely in the form of glycogen from the raw meat they consumed.^[24][25] This high fat content provides valuable energy and prevents protein poisoning, which historically was sometimes a problem in late winter when game animals grew lean through winter starvation. It has been suggested that because the fats of the Inuit's wild-caught game are largely monounsaturated and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the diet does not pose the same health risks as a typical Western high-fat diet.^[26] However, actual evidence has shown that Inuit have a similar prevalence of coronary artery disease as non-Inuit populations and they have excessive mortality due to cerebrovascular strokes, with twice the risk to that of the North American population.^[27][28] Indeed, the cardiovascular risk of this diet is so severe that the addition of a more standard American diet has reduced the incidence of mortality in the Inuit population.^[29] Furthermore, fish oil supplement studies have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_cuisine

[Adoons]

So what are you telling us Treeman? Less Rump Steak with a half to 1 inch fat, 0 lamb chops and more lean Kudu Cow and Eland Cow steaks?

[Bundu Ric]

I pretty much dont believe anything on Wikipedia.

[oafpatroll]

I believe that Vilhjalmur Sefannsson was the guy who first put up the idea of the Inuit diet profile being a winner. He was a polar explorer in the early 20th century and spent a year eating food provided to him by Inuit when his supply ship failed to arrive. His diet consisted supposedly consisted almost completely of animals in the form of fish and mammals. He reported that he didn't suffer scurvy or any other issue that was expected in the absence of vegetables and fruit. After that he made a big thing of doing his expeditions with the minimum of hauled in western food and relying on what could be hunted or caught. At his retirement he estimated that he had spend at least 5 years subsisting on an animal based diet.

I find it hard to believe that an Inuit population of the recent past has much in common diet or lifestyle wise with the people that Steffanson lived with so comparisons with modern populations is probably not representative. I'm not sold on the idea of living almost entirely without fruit and veg but I also find it quite hard to believe that the polar regions could have been colonised in antiquity unless people were pretty healthy doing it. Why on earth else would they choose to?

[treeman]

Tell the truth, I only posted this because I do not have a mate and a camp fire at hand, seemed a good discussion topic with some very interesting insights to be provided no doubt.
I guess Wikipedia can be kind of go with the flow in its information, I would not be surprised if there was another Wiki site telling about how Eskimo's can eat fat all day and never suffer a health issue due to it.

[Ds J]

There is a book titled "Gut and psychology syndrome" by Dr Natascha Miller-McBride.

According to her, a healthy human gut can produce all it needs from almost any healthy food source.

There were neither antibiotics nor hormones nor chemicals nor any other additives in the Inuit diet.

[shooty]

Actually they do not like to be called Eskimo at all. But Inuit.

[Springer]

Fat is energy? Fancy that.

[AK-Gunner]

Actually they do not like to be called Eskimo at all. But Inuit.

The Yupik and Aleut would not be happy to be called Inuit...

Yes, the 'Eskimos don't have heart attacks' fall into the same urban legend category as 'sharks don't have cancer'.

[Springer]

The Yupik and Aleut would not be happy to be called Inuit...

Yes, the 'Eskimos don't have heart attacks' fall into the same urban legend category as 'sharks don't have cancer'.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12535749/