How do people on Inuit or other polar climate diets avoid scurvy?

Question

Scurvy is caused by a lack of vit C and people on traditional polar diets [Inuit, Lapp, Siberian etc] eat mainly meats, fish etc, almost no fruit, leafy veg or other sources, except perhaps in the short summer period. In modern times they may be able to import food to supplement what they've caught, but that has not always been so. o Inuits also eat seaweed, and if so, does seaweed contain it C. I know many seaweeds are edible but do not know how nutritious they are, whether they contain micronutrients or whether they contain little but dietary fibre, useful to prevent constipation, but little else.

Answer 1

Favourite answer

called the INUIT PARADOX  per Discovery Magazine  where do such humans get their VITAMIN C

the answer ARCTIC people  living on FRESH FISH  and MEAT showed they were  FREE of disease

  MARINE animals  Seal Walrus marine  mammals  live in cold water  have LOTS of FAT   other  unlike humans other animals produce VITAMIN C in their LIVER  as long as you don't OVER COOK it  it supplies the human dirt with Vitamin C

Answer 2

Inuit don't get scurvy. Their bodies have adapted. 

Its like squirrels will eat acorns but they are toxic to us 

Answer 3

Maybe I am wrong but doesn't liver contain vitamin c. Maybe they like eating liver.

Answer 4

Actually the native diet provides enough Vitamin C to prevent scurvy, even if citrus fruits or greens aren't available. COOKING is what destroys Vitamin C in meats and fish--when it is eaten raw, it preserves that Vitamin,  and Inuit populations, as a result, are not subject to scurvy. One only needs about 10 milligrams of Vitamin C to prevent it. 

Good question!! 

Answer 5

They do gather berries when in season and store them.......

Answer 6

they import oranges from california or the food they eat contains vitamin c . never eaten raw seal before .

Answer 7

They do gather berries when in season and store them.

Answer 8

Apparently there is vitiman C in organ meats such as liver. 

Answer 9

I had reindeer meet while in Lapland, it's healthier than people from the south realize.

Answer 10

In addition to Goerge's link in times past the Sami would eat the partially digested lichen in reindeer stomachs during the winter.  Humans cannot digest lichen on our own but the reindeer stomach has enzymes which will making the nutrients available to people.