ИСТИНА

We consider the role of the gift economy (as a system of inter-community distribution of food) in maintaining the health of contemporary indigenous people of the Russian Arctic. D-vitamin status (evaluated by the serum blood concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D) has been picked to serve as an indicator of health. During the polar night, the only source of vitamin D is food. The main contributors are fish and venison, which also are a staple of the “arctic diet”. Thus, the concentration of 25(OH)D in serum of Arctic indigenous people in wintertime reflects availability and the level of consumption of traditional food. The subjects of the study were Nenets females divided into two age groups (of 17-41 and 42+ yo), residents ether of a district center (with a total population of 1500), or a small settlement (500 inhabitants), who did not participate in reindeer herding and had a proxy access to local products. The length of the daytime in the course of collecting samples ranged between 1:20 and 2:40 hrs. The difference in the levels of vitamin D between the age groups of the residents of the bigger settlement was unsubstantial. As to the small settlement, serum 25(OH)D concentration was, on average, higher in the group of seniors (50.8 ± 10.46 nmol/l) than in the juniors (45.6 ± 10.90 nmol/l; p = 0.032). Those, living in remote small settlements are among the most low-income groups of the indigenous population. They predominantly subsist on what they gathered and caught with an addition of the produce supplied by reindeer herders to their family members. The consumption of local food is higher in small than in large settlements, and older women have better access to local produce than younger ones. The collected materials agree with the assumption that the availability of local food extensively depends on the tradition of giving.