Fish Consumption and Nutritional Health among First Nations in Canada

Abstract

Traditional food is fundamental for the cultural identity, mental and spiritual well-being, and physical and nutritional health of First Nations in Canada. Rapid environment changes including environmental contamination and degradation, climate change, urbanization and industry growth reduce the availability and diversity of traditional foods. This is concomitant with changing lifestyle and an increased prevalence of malnutrition, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the roles of traditional fish consumption for First Nations’ health in the complex interplays between environmental contaminant exposure, climate change, and food and nutrition security. Data collected from the First Nations Food Nutrition and Environment Study were used. The thesis is comprised of seven chapters presented in three sections. Section 1 addressed the importance of traditional fish consumption for food and nutritional security among First Nations in Canada. With increased income-related food insecurity, First Nations rely more on traditional foods including fish and participate more in fishing and other traditional practices. Nevertheless, many factors such as climate change, governmental restrictions, hydro and forestry operations continue to reduce the availability of traditional fish and access to traditional food sources, land and waterways. Section 2 explored the associations between locally-harvested fish consumption, long chain omega-3 fatty acid (n-3 FA) intake and dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POP) with type 2 diabetes in First Nations in Canada. Dietary POP exposure was positively associated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes whereas fish consumption (n-3 FA) showed protective dose-response associations. Furthermore, we found that relatively high POP exposure from fish may outweigh the protective associations of fish on type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the balance of risks and benefits associated with fish consumption is highly dependent on the regional POP concentrations in fish. Section 3 entailed studies on the nutritional benefits of seafood consumption and modelling potential impacts of the climate-related decline in seafood abundance on the nutritional quality of adult diets and cardiovascular health among coastal First Nations in British Columbia. We estimated that projected climate change may reduce the intakes of essential nutrients by 21%– 31% by 2050 relative to 2000. Moreover, hypothetical substitution of seafood with alternative non-traditional foods would not provide adequate amounts of nutrients. Reduced fish consumption and consequent n-3 FAs intake may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases in First Nations. Our findings provide important information for communities, fishery governance, local resource managers and public health professionals to promote traditional food systems, nutritional health, food security, and food sovereignty in Canadian First Nations.