Gene mutations explain Inuit’s adaptation to high-fat diet in Arctic, Study

Published on Friday in the journal Science, the study reveals mutations in the genes involved in fat metabolism that helps the Inuit population counteract the effects of a diet that would lead to cardiovascular disease for most people.

In the 1970s, studies performed by Danish researchers suggested that omega-3 fatty acids present in a fish acts as a protective measure. It is a great advancement in the field of health and if gene mutation can succeed, we all can lose weight by eating lots of fatty acids and tasty foods.

As Inuit people spanned the Arctic, they also developed one among the most extreme diets that humanity has experienced so far.

Nielsen added that even though several studies of Greenland’s indigenous population have been done in the past, very little was known about the specific genetic patterns and adaptations that exist in the Inuit population. It looked at genetic differences between Europeans, ethnic Chinese and Inuit.

These genetic mutations in the Inuit have more widespread effects. And the genes seem to play a role in lowering levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad kind that’s linked to heart disease.

Research into the diet of the Inuit may have just come full circle.

That’s part of the reason why some researchers aren’t completely blown away by the study.

In addition, the gene mutations lowered the Inuit’s height by nearly an inch (2 centimeters). “If they switch to a modern diet that’s high in carbohydrates, particularly simple ones like glucose and sugar, then they tend to be quite unhealthy”, Nielsen says. “The same diet may have different effects on different people”, he said.

Anders Albrechtsen, another computational biology professor from the University of Copenhagen, gave a statement of his own saying that one particularly fascinating example is the Tibetans’ ability to adapt to high altitudes. This could be due to fatty acids affecting growth hormones, according to Phys.org. An interesting example is that of the Inuit, a group referring to the people who populate the Arctic region.

The mutations seem to be at least 20,000 years old, and may have helped many groups of humans adapt to high-meat, high-fat, hunter-gatherer diets from large land and marine mammals high in certain types of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, says Matteo Fumagalli, a researcher at University College – London, who is joint first author of the study. It discovered that Inuit populations had genes that slowed down the physique’s manufacturing of those fatty acids, permitting them to return from exterior sources.