Food Customs of Alaska Women of Childbearing Age: The Alaska WIC Healthy Moms Survey

A framework for assessing food-energy-water security: A FEW case studies from rural Alaska

Food, energy, and water (FEW) are basic needs for well-being and quality of life. Assessing FEW security allows residents, communities, and policy makers to make informed decisions about how to sustain and improve well-being. We have developed a FEW security assessment framework that examines four components of security: availability, access, quality, and preference. With the help of local community members, we interviewed 114 households in three rural Alaska communities to assess FEW security, drivers and outcomes of FEW security, and potential interactions among FEW components and with renewable energy (RE) developments. While FEW security was high overall, preference and quality, especially for food, was lower. Food harvested from the local environment (i.e. subsistence) was necessary to include in security assessments given that 24% of participants reported insecurity when asked about contemporary sources (i.e. purchased) versus 5% reporting insecurity for subsistence food sources (i.e., harvested). The major influences on FEW security tended to originate from outside the community, including factors such as transportation, income, fuel prices, and weather. One internal factor, health, was both a driver and an outcome of FEW security. Satisfaction with RE varied (42%-68%) with dissatisfaction due to unreliability, uncertainty of the economic benefit, desire for other types of RE, or wanting more RE (n = 6). Communication about RE projects was key to managing expectations, promoting knowledge, and identifying benefits for residents. Participants did not identify linkages between RE and FEW security. Our assessment tool can be used by communities and policy makers to contextualize FEW security into more insightful and specific components, allowing for identification of attainable actions to improve FEW security and thus individual and community well-being.

Traditional Food Practices, Attitudes, and Beliefs in Urban Alaska Native Women Receiving WIC Assistance

OBJECTIVE

To identify practices, attitudes, and beliefs associated with intake of traditional foods among Alaska Native women.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study that measured traditional food intake; participation in food-sharing networks; presence of a hunter or fisherman in the home; the preference, healthfulness, and economic value of traditional foods; and financial barriers to obtaining these foods.

PARTICIPANTS

Purposive sample of 71 low-income Alaska Native women receiving Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) assistance in Anchorage, AK.

ANALYSIS

Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses.

RESULTS

Traditional foods contributed 4% of total daily calories. Given a choice, 63% of participants indicated that they would prefer half or more of the foods they ate to be traditional (ie, not store-bought). The majority of participants (64%) believed that traditional foods were healthier than store-bought foods. Of all participants, 72% relied on food-sharing networks for traditional foods; only 21% acquired traditional foods themselves. Participants who ate more traditional foods preferred traditional foods (B = .011 P = .02).

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Traditional food intake was low and findings suggested that Alaska Native women living in an urban setting prefer to consume more but are unable to do so. Future research might examine the effect of enhancing social networks and implementing policies that support traditional food intake.

A scoping review of traditional food security in Alaska

BACKGROUND

Food insecurity is a public health concern. The pillars of food security include food access, availability and utilisation. For some indigenous peoples, the pillars may focus on traditional foods.

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a scoping review on traditional foods and food security in Alaska.

DESIGN

Google Scholar and the High North Research Documents were used to search for relevant primary research using the following terms: “traditional foods”, “food security”, “access”, “availability”, “utilisation”, “Alaska”, “Alaska Native” and “indigenous”.

RESULTS

Twenty four articles from Google Scholar and four articles from the High North Research Documents met the inclusion criteria. The articles revealed three types of research approaches, those that quantified traditional food intake (n=18), those that quantified food security (n=2), and qualitative articles that addressed at least one pillar of food security (n=8).

CONCLUSIONS

Studies that estimate the prevalence of traditional food insecurity in Alaska are virtually absent from the literature. Instead most studies provide a review of factors related to food security. Research investigating dietary intake of traditional foods is more prevalent. Future research should include direct measurements of traditional food intake and food security to provide a more complete picture of traditional food security in Alaska.

DOHaD research with populations in transition: a case study of prenatal diet remote recall with Yup'ik Alaskan women

Maternal prenatal diet can exert a powerful influence on the health of children when they reach adulthood--an orienting phenomenon in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research paradigm. Similar to other subsistence-based communities experiencing a rapid nutrition transition, obesity is increasing among Yup'ik Alaskans. Diabetes prevalence, however, remains relatively low and may reflect developmental nutritional processes that have yet to be thoroughly considered. Here we investigate recall of Yup'ik women's diets during a past pregnancy using a mixed-methods approach as a critical first step in exploring such alternative developmental hypotheses. For certain populations, retrospective dietary reports might be the only source of information on factors relevant to understanding developmental pathways to health and disease. Our analysis identified community-specific factors that will likely improve the accuracy of future retrospective dietary analyses investigating the role of prenatal nutrition in the developmental origins of metabolic disease, especially among Alaska Natives.