Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Jun 04/01) - The high cost of healthy food makes it difficult for Northerners to eat properly and this time of year people in the Delta are at an even greater disadvantage.
It has been weeks since the Dempster Highway north of Fort McPherson has been open and the price of produce, meats and other perishable foods flown into communities has skyrocketed.
Grapes in Aklavik usually cost around $4 but right now sell at $9. "Now is the worst-case scenario because stuff has to be flown in direct from Edmonton or trucked to Yellowknife (and flown from there)," said Doug Robertson, acting general manager of Inuvik Northern Store.
Robertson said people complain about prices every year during break-up and freeze-up. A new dietary study gives them another reason for concern. It found that young people eat more sugar and less country food.
Sue Hamilton was a research assistant on the dietary assessment of Inuit. "We found that people, on the days they ate traditional food, their diet was better. (Type 2) diabetes, which often correlates to obesity, used to be unheard of in these communities and that has been changing."
The study found that many Inuit under the age of 40 were overweight. "A (study) probably could be done to see if there is a relation to the expense of food to see if there is a pound correlation," Hamilton said. "We are not there yet."
Encouraging people in isolated communities to eat healthy is difficult at this time of year, said Agnes Rubin, community health representative in Paulatuk.
Rubin said it food costs her family of eight close to $100 per day. The recent dietary assessment findings show Paulatuk food prices 470 per cent higher than Ottawa.
"People will usually buy things like Carnation milk instead of (baby formula)," said Rubin. "Apple and orange juices are much too expensive so people would buy Tang juices or Kool-Aid juices."
Risks and benefits
- The "Assessment of Dietary Benefits/Risks in Inuit Communities" was done through the Centre for Indigenous People's Nutrition and Environment at McGill University.
- The assessment examined the threat of contaminants and the nutrient, socio-cultural and economic benefits of traditional food.
- Paulatuk, Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk were among 18 communities in which 1,929 people were questioned about diet and where traditional food samples were studied for contaminants.
- Up to 78 per cent of respondents said they would not be able to afford all their food needs if they had to buy it all from the store.
- Aklavik was the only Western Arctic community with particularly high levels of contaminants in food in marine mammal fat. It was found to be 10 times higher than the provisional tolerable daily intake.
