The associations of a marine diet with plasma lipids, blood glucose, blood pressure and obesity among the Inuit in Greenland

Objective: To analyse the associations between the intake of fish and marine mammals and risk factors for cardiovascular disease, ie lipid profile, fasting blood glucose, blood pressure and obesity, in a population whose average consumption of n-3 fatty acids is high compared with Western countries. Design: Information was obtained from a population survey in Greenland: interview data, clinical data and fasting blood samples were obtained from a random sample of Inuit from three towns and four villages. Subjects: Two-hundred and fifty-nine adult Inuit (74% of the sample). Results: Marine diet was positively associated with serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and blood glucose and inversely with very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglyceride. Association with low-density lipoprotein (LDL), diastolic and systolic blood pressure, waist-hip ratio and body mass index were inconsistent and not statistically significant. The pattern was similar within groups with low, medium and high consumption of marine food. Conclusions: There are statistically significant associations between the consumption of marine food and certain lipid fractions in the blood also in this population with a very high average intake of marine food. The observation that blood glucose is positively associated with marine diet in a population survey is new and should be repeated. There was good agreement between the results for the reported consumption of seal and those for the biomarkers.