Maktak, misaraq keys to good heart health

If you eat a diet that’s heavy in fish, you may find yourself at a higher risk of developing heart disease and heart attacks.

But if you also eat beluga maktak and seal misaraq, you may counter those risks.

Generally, fish are good for you, because they contain lots of healthy fatty acids.

The problem is that they’re also loaded with toxic methylmercury.

High amounts of methylmercury in a person’s blood affect an enzyme that helps prevent hardening and blockage of the arteries, a cause of heart attacks and other cardiac problems, researchers report in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Their study, based on the analysis of blood collected during the 2004 Qanuippittaa health survey in Nunavik, helps explain how Inuit have fewer heart problems, even while eating excessive amounts of mercury-containing seafood, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Methylmercury, like other Arctic pollutants, comes to the polar regions from the south, released from human activities like industry and coal burning power plants.

As it enters the Arctic, this mercury undergoes a process in the water, called methylation, and becomes deadly methylmercury.

Elevated levels of methylmercury in the body can also lead to neurological problems, such as memory and attention troubles.

And its toxic effects increase as it progresses through the food chain from small sea creatures to humans.

But the greatest exposure for people to methylmercury is through seafood.

However, sea mammals and, to a lesser extent, fish also contain selenium, a trace mineral that prevents the development of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

To see if the selenium Inuit eat in misaraq and maktak counteracts the mercury in their diet, scientists measured and compared blood mercury concentrations and activity levels of an enzyme (called paraoxonase or PON1) in more than 800 Nunavimmiut over 18.

They also measured blood concentrations of selenium.

As expected, high blood mercury levels were linked to a decrease in PON1 enzyme activity, but high selenium levels were associated with increased enzyme activity which decrease the chance of developing heart disease.

Overall, a poor diet of junk food and a sedentary lifestyle are likely lead to a greater risk of cardio-vascular disease than mercury exposure through a balanced diet of traditional goods, these scientists say.