Levels of folate, pyridoxine, niacin and riboflavin in traditional foods of Canadian Arctic Indigenous Peoples

Traditional food resources of indigenous peoples provide a wealth of information on use of unique food species, and their harvest and preparation. In conjunction with a larger study associated with the Northern Contaminants Program, traditional food items most frequently consumed in Inuit, Dene/Metis and Yukon First Nations communities of the Canadian North, were identified following a large-scale dietary assessment that included monitoring and collection of traditional and market foods in five regions of the Canadian North. Fifty out of 200 traditional food samples, collected as eaten, were prioritized for water-soluble vitamin analysis (folate, pyridoxine, riboflavin and niacin) based upon parameters that included frequency of consumption, lack of nutrient data and expectation of nutrient content. This paper reports on contents of selected B vitamins in the prioritized food samples, as eaten and expressed per 100 g of food sample. This is the first report of the levels of these water-soluble vitamins in many of these food sources. This study strongly suggests that traditional foods have the potential to contribute significantly to the water-soluble vitamin requirements of Northern Indigenous Peoples.