Traditional Diet and Environmental Contaminants in Coastal Chukotka IV: Recommended Intake Criteria

The article is the last in the series of four that present the results of a study on environmental contaminants in coastal Chukotka, conducted in the context of a multi-disciplinary investigation of Indigenous foodways in the region. The article presents the Recommended Food Daily Intake Limit (RFDIL) guidelines of the locally harvested foods in coastal Chukotka. The guidelines were developed based on the results of the analysis of the legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals found in the samples of locally harvested food, which was collected in 2016 in the villages of Enmelen, Nunligran, and Sireniki on the south coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, Russian Arctic. The overall aim of the article is to expand the toolset for dealing with the challenges of: (1) setting the dietary recommendations when we assess multiple contaminants in a variety of foods (and our method of RFDILs calculation is an example of a possible approach), and (2) managing the real-life circumstances when many types of foods are mixed in many dishes regularly and the concentrations of contaminants in these mixed dishes become uncertain. Drawing on perspectives from the fields of environmental health sciences, humanities, social sciences, and visual art, the authors consider the RFDILs of the examined foods in the context of the culinary practices and aesthetics values (those that relate to the culturally held ideas of beauty ascribed to a dish or the processes of its preparation and consumption) of the Indigenous Arctic cuisine in the region of the Bering Strait, and in the broader dynamics of food and culture

Traditional Diet and Environmental Contaminants in Coastal Chukotka I: Study Design and Dietary Patterns

The article is the first in the series of four that present the results of a study on environmental contaminants in coastal Chukotka, conducted in the context of a multi-disciplinary investigation of indigenous foodways in the region of the Bering Strait. We provide an overview of the contemporary foodways in our study region and present the results of the survey on the consumption of locally harvested foods, carried out in 2016 in the Chukotkan communities of Enmelen, Nunligran, and Sireniki. The present results are evaluated in comparison to those of the analyses carried out in 2001⁻2002 in the village of Uelen, located further north. Where appropriate, we also draw comparative insight from the Alaskan side of the Bering Strait. The article sets the stage for the analyses of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals to which the residents become exposed through diet and other practices embedded in the local foodways, and for the discussion of the Recommended Food Daily Intake Limits (RFDILs) of the food that has been sampled and analyzed in the current study

Traditional Diet and Environmental Contaminants in Coastal Chukotka III: Metals

The article is the third in the series of four that present the results of a study on environmental contaminants in coastal Chukotka, which was conducted in the context of a multi-disciplinary investigation of indigenous foodways in the region. The article presents the results of the analysis of metals found in the samples of locally harvested terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biota collected in 2016 in coastal Chukotka. For some species of local fauna and flora, the metals content was demonstrated for the first time. Lead and Hg were low in all foods, while As concentrations were up to four mg/kg ww in fish and marine mammals blubber. Wild plants showed accumulations of Mn (up to 190 mg/kg ww), Al (up to 75 mg/kg ww), Ni, Ba, and Sr. Seaweed contained high levels of As (14 mg/kg) and Sr (310 mg/kg); ascidians (sea squirts) contained Al (up to 560 mg/kg), Cr, and Sr; and blue mussels contained Cd (2.9 mg/kg) and Al (140 mg/kg). Exceedances over the Russian allowable levels were revealed for As, Cd, and Al in different food items. Absence of the established limits for Al and Sr in seafood, and Mn in wild plants and berries, impedes the determination of excess levels. Temporal trends and geographic comparisons of metals in foods have been carried out. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of metals by local food consumption were calculated based on the food intake frequencies. Follow-up (15 years after the first study) analyses of Hg, Pb, and Cd concentrations in local foods has not revealed any increase, while a slight decrease tendency was noted for some of the metals in several foods

Traditional Diet and Environmental Contaminants in Coastal Chukotka II: Legacy POPs

The article is the second in the series of four that present the results of a study on environmental contaminants in coastal Chukotka, conducted in the context of a multi-disciplinary investigation of indigenous foodways in the region. The article presents the results of the analysis of legacy Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) found in the samples of locally harvested food and indoor matters, collected in 2016 in coastal Chukotka. Temporal trends and circumpolar comparisons of POPs in food have been carried out. Estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of POPs by local food consumption were calculated based on the food intake frequencies (questionnaire data). Concentrations of the studied legacy POPs in marine mammal blubber were relatively high (up to 100⁻200 µg/kg ww) but not exceeding the allowable limits. Gray whale blubber and whale mantak were the most contaminated foods, followed by the ringed, spotted and bearded seal blubber, then by walrus blubber and fermented walrus (deboned walrus parts aged in subterranean pits, typically over a period of 6 months). At the backdrop of general decrease or invariability (compared to the previous coastal Chukotka study 15 years ago) of the majority of POPs, an increasing tendency of HCB, mainly in marine mammals, were noted. Legacy POPs in marine mammals sampled in Chukotka were generally much lower than in those sampled in Alaska and northern Canada. We suggest that the Alaska Coastal Current from the Bering Sea plays a major role in this phenomenon. Analyses of the additional sources of in-home food contamination (home-brewed alcohol, domestic insecticides) have revealed relatively high levels of HCHs, DDTs and PCBs, which still represent a share of dietary exposure of local people to POPs