title: Vitamin D status in Greenland--dermal and dietary donations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitamin D status influences skeletal health, the risk of falls and fractures, and muscle health, and it has been associated with inflammatory, infectious, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in addition to some cancers. Prevailing intracellular infections such as tuberculosis are speculated to relate to vitamin D status. The vitamin D sources are dietary and dermal, the latter depending on UVB radiation exposure from the sun. Life in the Arctic influences vitamin D status because of dietary peculiarities, the polar night, waning of the ozone layer and maybe ethnic differences between Inuit and non-Inuit.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Data on vitamin D status as estimated by plasma 25OHD in Inuit and non-Inuit in Greenland are reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Decreasing intake of vitamin D-rich local food items associated with decreasing plasma 25OHD levels and insufficient vitamin D status is seen with low intake of traditional Inuit foods. Plasma 25OHD levels increase markedly during spring and summer in parallel with the high influx of sunlight while plasma 25OHD is not influenced by obesity in Greenland Inuit and no clear-cut association is seen between plasma 25OHD and the risk of tuberculosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequency of vitamin D deficiency in populations in Greenland rises with the dietary transition and diseases related to low vitamin D status should be monitored.
authors.affiliation: Arctic Health Research Centre, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. stiga@dadlnet.dk
authors.forename: Stig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.forename: Hanne Lynge
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Rex
authors.forename: Folmer
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lyngaard
authors.forename: Inge-Lise
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Kleist
authors.forename: Peder
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laurberg
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet; D006116:Greenland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D004930:Inuit / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000208:ethnology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D013472:Sunlight; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D
keywords: Arctic Greenland; Inuit Eskimos; UVB radiation; diet; lifestyle changes; obesity; review; vitamin D