Genetic mutations explain Inuit adaptation to high-fat diet in Arctic – Internet Information Center of China

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An analysis of the genetic makeup of the Inuit people, who live in an extreme climate in the Arctic, was able to determine how this population has adapted to a diet high in fats from Fish and marine mammals such as seals and whales.

The study, published in today’s issue of the journal Science, reveals that the Inuit have particular mutations in genes involved in the metabolism of fats that help in part to counter the effects of a diet otherwise for the rest of us, could lead to cardiovascular disease.

These once known as Eskimos Inuit genetic mutations, work by reducing cholesterol low density lipoprotein (LDL, for its acronym in English), or “bad” cholesterol, and fasting insulin levels, which apparently protects against cardiovascular disease and diabetes. They also have a significant effect on height because growth is regulated in part by the profile of fatty acids of people.

“The mutations found in the Inuit have profound physiological effects, changing the whole profile fatty acids in the body, in addition to reducing the height of two centimeters, “said Ida Moltke, bioinformatics associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, one of the authors of the study.

” The stature is controlled by many genes, but this mutation is one of the strongest effects on height geneticists found “Moltke said.

Analyses revealed that mutations may have arisen makes about 20,000 years when the ancestors of the Inuit living in the Bering Strait and surrounding areas.

The Bering Strait land is the “bridge” that the ancestors of Native Americans used to cross into North America from Asia .

Moltke and his colleagues came to their conclusions after analyzing the genomes of 191 Inuit of Greenland, which have European backgrounds estimates less than five percent and compared them with the genomes of 60 European and 44 Chinese Han.

The results showed that mutations in nearly 100 percent of Inuit were found in only two percent of Europeans and 15 percent of Han Chinese.

The study also questions the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil that previously were associated with a low incidence of cardiovascular disease in the Inuit.

“We found that present unique genetic adaptations to this diet, so this can not be extrapolated to other populations of them, “Moltke said. “The Inuit can eat all these omega 3 fatty acids, but not the rest of us.” End

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