What's in your freezer? Traditional food use and food security in two Yukon First Nations communities.

Traditional foods are central to the well-being of Aboriginal communities however there is a trend of decreasing traditional food use which can pose health risks when the replacement foods are low in nutrients and high in carbohydrates and saturated fats. This study collected information on the frequency and quantity of traditional food consumption as well the level of food security of 29 adults in the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation community of Old Crow and 33 adults in the Tlingit community of Teslin, both of Yukon, Canada. In each community traditional foods were shown to be an important part of the diet, although challenges in access to and availability of foods were reported. Chemical contamination is another challenge in the context of food security. There is limited data on mercury levels in caribou, a principal food source for the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Seventy-five caribou muscle, 63 kidney and 3 liver samples were analyzed for total mercury and combined with reported dietary information to calculate estimated total mercury and methylmercury exposure. Nutrient intake was calculated by combining data from the Canada Nutrient File and supplemented by Kuhnlein et al. (2006) and Hidiroglou et al., (2008) with the collected dietary information. Caribou issues were found to contribute high levels of important nutrients to the diet and pose minimal health risk from mercury exposure.