A Systematic Review of Literature on\nDietary Transition- Causes and\nConsequences in the Indigenous\nPopulations of The Arctic

Background: The traditional diet in the Arctic Indigenous populations have undergone a\nsignificant transition. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has been\nlooking into this dietary transition happening in the circumpolar earth for more than 20 years\nfrom now and explained them through the studies focusing on changes in Arctic biodiversity,\nhuman health, and natural environment. But there has not been any chapter explicitly focusing on\nthe transition of the food, diet, and nutritional status in the populations living in the Arctic.\nIndigenous communities are the majority living in these demographics and their traditional food\nhabits have gone through a drastic change and hence affecting their health and lifestyle. This\nstudy has focused on exploring the changes or transition in traditional food habits, diet, and\nnutrition while identifying the causes and consequences to these changes in the indigenous\ncommunities living in the Arctic regions through a systematic review of literature of the existing\nvalid evidence.\n\nMethods: The study has been conducted through a systematic literature review including 91\nliterature (journals, books, reports, national surveys, articles, and unpublished manuscripts from\nregional health experts and researchers) related to the topics Arctic indigenous food, diet,\nnutrition, dietary transition, and traditional indigenous diet. Additional 5 literature was added to\nformalize the method for the study. The relevant non-English pieces of literature were excluded\nat first. Still, some of them have been included as the regional and native experts from AMAP\nHHAG helped the study team with the English translation. The literature that did not match the\nstudy objectives and keywords were excluded from the study. The references for the study have\nbeen organized using Endnote 9X. For wording, citation and referencing APA 6th format has\nbeen followed.\n\nResults: A pattern of changes has been found in all indigenous and native populations residing\nin the Arctic regions (Greenland, Scandinavia, Arctic Russia, Arctic Alaska, Arctic Canada)\ncaused by rapid globalization, gradual climate change, and inclusion of western diet. Traditional\ndiet was found more popular among the older generations than that was found in the younger\ngenerations in the Arctic indigenous communities. It is found that the dietary changes have increased adverse health effects such as the increased prevalence of T2D, obesity, dental carries\nand other metabolic diseases. On the positive side, these changes found beneficial in terms of\nnutrient intake, as more vegetables have been included recently within the daily dietary\ncomposition. However, the traditional diet is still considered as an integral part of the indigenous\ncultures and traditions by all the Arctic indigenous populations. Rising concern regarding food\ninsecurity also has been found in the North American Arctic territories (Alaska and Canada) and\nArctic Russia which has been reported as one of the causes for the changes in the traditional diet,\nbesides other mentioned causes.\n\nConclusion: A similarity has been observed in dietary change patterns among all the Arctic\nindigenous populations, which has both positive and negative consequences in terms of\npopulations’ health. Similarity has also been noted in terms of causes among the populations.\nGlobalization, climate change, and inclusion of western diet have been found as the common\ncauses for the overall traditional dietary patterns of the indigenous communities went and still\ngoing through the transition. A rising concern in terms of food insecurity has also been found\nmainly in Arctic Canada, Arctic Alaska, and Arctic Russia.\n\nKeywords: Arctic traditional diet, Dietary Transition in the Arctic, Nutrition, Arctic Indigenous\nPopulations, Food Insecurity in Northern or Arctic Canada, Arctic Alaska, North and North-Western\nRussia, Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland.

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