The traditional diet of Greenland natives—the Inuit—is held up as an example of how high levels of omega-3 fatty acids can counterbalance the bad health effects of a high-fat diet. But what’s true for the Inuit may not be true for everyone else.
A new study shows the Inuit and their Siberian ancestors have special mutations in genes involved in fat metabolism. The mutations help them partly counteract the effects of a diet high in marine mammal fat, mostly from seals and whales that eat fish with high levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
A diet that is healthy for the inuit may not necessarily be good for the rest of us.
