The Inuit Paradox

Jonathan Moss
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Anthropology Extra Credit The Inuit Paradox
By: Patricia Gadsby Patricia Gadsby describes how the Inuits ate a diet high in meat and fat, low in fruits and vegetables and still had considerably low rates of cancer and heart diseases, especially when compared to our modern westernized culture. After much research, they discovered that the reason for this is because of how the fresh meat that they caught was filled with many beneficial nutrients that most modern meat lacks. Most modern meat is full of saturated fat and omega 6s
(which causes inflammatory) due to fattened animals full on grain and our meat being processed.
Their meat on the other hand was full of unsaturated fat and omega 3s (which stops inflammatory). This allowed them to have a diet consisting of a high amount of fat and protein with little to no carbs, and yet still be active and healthy with less cases of heart disease and cancer than we have in our modern society. Upon reading about the diet of the Inuits, it became apparent to me how our modern food is produced and processed to accommodate the hunger of the public rather than their general nutrition. Food's purpose is to be fuel for the body, but modern society has changed its main purpose from nutrition to mass production. Most modern diets out there tell people to eat lots of healthy carbs, moderate amounts of protein and as little amount of fats as possible. I believe the
Inuits proved that a healthy diet can consist of healthy fats and protein with little carbs, and that the main factor in modern heart disease and cancer isn't only determined by what percent of protein, carbs or fat we eat, but by how our food is being produced.