Depended on where they lived but sunshine required to activate D. Note also Inuit at high risk of D deficiencies:
Vitamin D deficiency and disease risk among aboriginal Arctic populations - Aug 2011
Sangita Sharma 1,
gita.sharma@ualberta.ca; Alison B Barr 2; Helen M Macdonald 3, Tony Sheehy 4, Rachel Novotny 5, Andre Corriveau 6
1 Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2 Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
3 Bone and Musculoskeletal Research Programme, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, Scotland
4 School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Republic of Ireland
5 Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
6 Alberta Health and Wellness, Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Nutrition Reviews, Volume 69, Issue 8, pages 468–478, August 2011
Aboriginal populations living above the Arctic Circle are at particularly high risk of vitamin D deficiency due to
limited ultraviolet B exposure (related to geographic latitude) and
inadequate dietary intake (recently related to decreased traditional food consumption).
Major changes in diet and lifestyle over the past 50 years in these populations have coincided with increased prevalence rates of
rickets,
cancer,
diabetes, and
obesity,
each of which may be associated with vitamin D inadequacy.
This review examines the risk factors for vitamin D inadequacy, the associations between vitamin D and disease risk at high geographic latitudes, and the recommendations for improving vitamin D status particularly among aboriginal Arctic populations. Traditional foods, such as fatty fish and marine mammals, are rich sources of vitamin D and should continue to be promoted to improve dietary vitamin D intake. Supplementation protocols may also be necessary to ensure adequate vitamin D status in the Arctic.
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