Traditional medicine has been practised for millennia in the Sámi population, based on a Sámi worldview and cosmology, which includes natural remedies, prayers, drums and yoik singing. During the ...Christianisation of the Sámi during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these practices were condemned. In recent years, however, a revival of Sámi culture has occurred and so has the practice of Sámi traditional medicine (STM) and the use of complementary alternative medicine (CAM). The aim of this study is to map the prevalence and use of STM and CAM among Sámi in Sweden today. The study population consisted of 3641 Sámi from the whole of Sweden, who had participated in the population-based cross-sectional survey Sámi Health on Equal Terms (SámiHET) in 2021. Our results show that women are more prone to use both STM and CAM than men and that younger persons are more likely to use STM and CAM than elderly persons. STM is more often used in the northern parts of Sápmi compared to the southern parts as well as a lower use of CAM in the north. This might be due to the stronger Sámi identity and easier access to traditional Sámi healers/helpers in the north as well as limited access to CAM services
Inflammation-related mechanisms may contribute to the link between diet and cancer. We sought to investigate the inflammatory impact of diet on cancer risk using the Dietary inflammatory index (DII) ...and an adapted Mediterranean diet score (MDS).
This population-based, prospective cohort study used self-reported dietary data from the Västerbotten Intervention Programme, including 100,881 participants, of whom 35,393 had repeated measures. Associations between dietary patterns and cancer risk were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression. We also used restricted cubic splines to test for potential non-linear associations.
A total of 9,250 incident cancer cases were diagnosed during a median follow-up of 15 years. The two dietary patterns were moderately correlated to each other and had similar associations with cancer risk, predominantly lung cancer in men (DII per tertile decrease: Hazard ratio (HR) 0.81 (0.66-0.99), MDS per tertile increase: HR 0.86 (0.72-1.03)), and gastric cancer in men (DII: 0.73 (0.53-0.99), MDS: 0.73 (0.56-0.96)). Associations were, in general, found to be linear. We found no longitudinal association between 10-year change in diet and cancer risk.
We confirm small, but consistent and statistically significant associations between a more anti-inflammatory or healthier diet and reduced risk of cancer, including a lower risk of lung and gastric cancer in men. The dietary indexes produced similar associations with respect to the risk of cancer.
This book explores the challenges facing food security, sustainability, sovereignty, and supply chains in the Arctic, with a specific focus on Indigenous Peoples. Offering multidisciplinary insights ...and with a particular focus on populations in the European High North region, the book highlights the importance of accessible and sustainable traditional foods for the dietary needs of local and Indigenous Peoples. It focuses on foods and natural products that are unique to this region and considers how they play a significant role towards food security and sovereignty. The book captures the tremendous complexity facing populations here as they strive to maintain sustainable food systems – both subsistent and commercial – and regain sovereignty over traditional food production policies. A range of issues are explored including food contamination risks, due to increasing human activities in the region, such as mining, to changing livelihoods and gender roles in the maintenance of traditional food security and sovereignty. The book also considers processing methods that combine indigenous and traditional knowledge to convert the traditional foods, that are harvested and hunted, into local foods. This book offers a broader understanding of food security and sovereignty and will be of interest to academics, scholars and policy makers working in food studies; geography and environmental studies; agricultural studies; sociology; anthropology; political science; health studies and biology.
Healthy Diet and physical activity may play important roles in the maintenance of muscle health during aging. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of adherence to healthy dietary ...patterns on sarcopenia risk in a sample of physically active older men and women, while considering adherence to guidelines on muscle strengthening activities (MSA) and protein intake. Based on a sample of 191 physically active men and women (65–70 years), dietary intake was assessed using a 90-items food-frequency-questionnaire (FFQ) and Healthy Diet Score (HDS) was calculated. Physical activity was assessed by accelerometry and self-report. A sarcopenia risk score (SRS) was derived based on three indicators of muscle health: muscle mass was assessed using bioelectrical impedance and handgrip strength and 5 times sit-to-stand (5-STS) were determined by standardized procedures. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to examine differences in SRS and its components across sex-specific tertiles of HDS, with adjustments for covariates including total energy intake, protein intake and MSA. A significant main effect (p < 0.05) of HDS on SRS was observed, where those belonging to the highest HDS tertile had lower SRS compared to those in the lowest tertile. A corresponding significant effect was observed for 5-STS performance, with better performance in those with the highest HDS adherence compared to those with the lowest. The present study supports guidelines emphasizing diet quality beyond amounts of macro- and micronutrients in the prevention of age-related deterioration of muscle health. Importantly, the benefits from healthy dietary patterns are evident in older adults who already adhere to guidelines for health-enhancing physical activity.
Chronic, low-grade inflammation is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The inflammatory impact of diet can be reflected by concentrations of inflammatory markers in the bloodstream ...and the inflammatory potential of diet can be estimated by the dietary inflammatory index (DII
), which has been associated with cardiovascular disease risk in some previous studies. We aimed to examine the association between the DII and the risk of first myocardial infarction (MI) in a population-based study with long follow-up.
We conducted a prospective case-control study of 1389 verified cases of first MI and 5555 matched controls nested within the population-based cohorts of the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS), of which the largest is the ongoing Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) with nearly 100 000 participants during the study period. Median follow-up from recruitment to MI diagnosis was 6.4 years (6.2 for men and 7.2 for women). DII scores were derived from a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) administered in 1986-2006. Multivariable conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), using quartile 1 (most anti-inflammatory diet) as the reference category. For validation, general linear models were used to estimate the association between the DII scores and two inflammatory markers, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in a subset (n = 605) of the study population.
Male participants with the most pro-inflammatory DII scores had an increased risk of MI OR
= 1.57 (95% CI 1.21-2.02) P
= 0.02, which was essentially unchanged after adjustment for potential confounders, including cardiovascular risk factors OR
= 1.50 (95% CI 1.14-1.99), P
= 0.10. No association was found between DII and MI in women. An increase of one DII score unit was associated with 9% higher hsCRP (95% CI 0.03-0.14) and 6% higher IL-6 (95% CI 0.02-0.11) in 605 controls with biomarker data available.
A pro-inflammatory diet was associated with an elevated risk of first myocardial infarction in men; whereas for women the relationship was null. Consideration of the inflammatory impact of diet could improve prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Other than the influence of ionizing radiation and benign thyroid disease, little is known about the risk factors for differentiated thyroid cancer (TC) which is an increasing common cancer ...worldwide. Consistent evidence shows that body mass is positively associated with TC risk. As excess weight is a state of chronic inflammation, we investigated the relationship between concentrations of leptin, adiponectin, C‐reactive protein, interleukin (IL)‐6, IL‐10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α and the risk of TC. A case‐control study was nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study and included 475 first primary incident TC cases (399 women and 76 men) and 1,016 matched cancer‐free cohort participants. Biomarkers were measured in serum samples using validated and highly sensitive commercially available immunoassays. Odds ratios (ORs) of TC by levels of each biomarker were estimated using conditional logistic regression models, adjusting for BMI and alcohol consumption. Adiponectin was inversely associated with TC risk among women (ORT3vs.T1 = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.49–0.98, Ptrend = 0.04) but not among men (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.36, 95% CI: 0.67–2.76, Ptrend = 0.37). Increasing levels of IL‐10 were positively associated with TC risk in both genders and significantly so in women (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.13–2.25, Ptrend = 0.01) but not in men (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.78, 95% CI: 0.80–3.98, Ptrend = 0.17). Leptin, CRP, IL‐6 and TNF‐α were not associated with TC risk in either gender. These results indicate a positive association of TC risk with IL‐10 and a negative association with adiponectin that is probably restricted to women. Inflammation may play a role in TC in combination with or independently of excess weight.
What's new?
How does being overweight lead to thyroid cancer? These authors investigated, using data from the EPIC cohort. Considering obesity as a state of chronic inflammation, they looked at levels of various proteins associated with inflammation, including C‐reactive protein, IL‐10, adiponectin, and others, and compared these with TC risk. Women with high adiponectin levels were less likely to develop thyroid cancer, while those with high IL‐10 levels had increased TC risk. No significant association was seen in men.
Background Despite potentially relevant chemical differences between filtered and boiled coffee, this study is the first to investigate consumption in relation to the risk of incident cancer. Methods ...Subjects were from the Västerbotten Intervention Project (64,603 participants, including 3,034 cases), with up to 15 years of follow-up. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated by multivariate Cox regression. Results No associations were found for all cancer sites combined, or for prostate or colorectal cancer. For breast cancer, boiled coffee ≥4 versus <1 occasions/day was associated with a reduced risk (HR = 0.52, CI = 0.30-0.88, p trend = 0.247). An increased risk of premenopausal and a reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer were found for both total (HRpremenopausal = 1.69, CI = 0.96-2.98, p trend = 0.015, HRpostmenopausal = 0.60, CI = 0.39-0.93, p trend = 0.006) and filtered coffee (HRpremenopausal = 1.76, CI = 1.04-3.00, p trend = 0.045, HRpostmenopausal = 0.52, CI = 0.30-0.88, p trend = 0.045). Boiled coffee was positively associated with the risk of respiratory tract cancer (HR = 1.81, CI = 1.06-3.08, p trend = 0.084), a finding limited to men. Main results for less common cancer types included total coffee in renal cell cancer (HR = 0.30, CI = 0.11-0.79, p trend = 0.009) and boiled coffee in pancreas cancer (HR = 2.51 CI = 1.15-5.50, p trend = 0.006). Conclusion These findings demonstrate, for the first time, the potential relevance of brewing method in investigations of coffee consumption and cancer risk, but they must be confirmed in future studies.
The aim of this population-based cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence of healthcare avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors among the Sámi population in ...Sweden. Data from the "Sámi Health on Equal Terms" (SámiHET) survey conducted in 2021 were used. Overall, 3,658 individuals constituted the analytical sample. Analysis was framed using the social determinants of health framework. The association between healthcare avoidance and several sociodemographic, material, and cultural factors was explored through log-binomial regression analyses. Sampling weights were applied in all analyses. Thirty percent of the Sámi in Sweden avoided healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sámi women (PR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.36-1.70), young adults (PR: 1.22, 95% CI:1.05-1.47), Sámi living outside Sápmi (PR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.03-1.34), and those having low income (PR: 1.42, 95% CI:1.19-1.68) and experiencing economic stress (PR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.31-1.67) had a higher prevalence of healthcare avoidance. The pattern shown in this study can be useful for planning future pandemic responses, which should address healthcare avoidance, particularly among the identified vulnerable groups, including the active participation of the Sámi themselves.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed a grave threat not only to Indigenous people's health and well-being, but also to Indigenous communities and societies. This applies also to the Indigenous peoples of the ...Arctic, where unintentional effects of public health actions to mitigate the spread of virus may have long-lasting effects on vulnerable communities. This study aim was to identify and describe Sámi perspectives on how the Sámi society in Sweden was specifically affected by the pandemic and associated public health actions during 2020-2021. A mixed-method qualitative case study approach was employed, including a media scoping review and stakeholder interviews. The media scoping review included 93 articles, published online or in print, from January 2020 to 1 September 2021, in Swedish or Norwegian, regarding the pandemic-related impacts on Sámi society in Sweden. The review informed a purposeful selection of 15 stakeholder qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis of the articles and interview transcripts generated five subthemes and two main themes: "weathering the storm" and "stressing Sámi culture and society". These reflect social dynamics which highlight stressors towards, and resilience within, the Sámi society during the pandemic. The results may be useful when evaluating and developing public health crisis response plans concerning or affecting the Sámi society in Sweden.The COVID-19 pandemic posed a grave threat not only to Indigenous people's health and well-being, but also to Indigenous communities and societies. This applies also to the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, where unintentional effects of public health actions to mitigate the spread of virus may have long-lasting effects on vulnerable communities. This study aim was to identify and describe Sámi perspectives on how the Sámi society in Sweden was specifically affected by the pandemic and associated public health actions during 2020-2021. A mixed-method qualitative case study approach was employed, including a media scoping review and stakeholder interviews. The media scoping review included 93 articles, published online or in print, from January 2020 to 1 September 2021, in Swedish or Norwegian, regarding the pandemic-related impacts on Sámi society in Sweden. The review informed a purposeful selection of 15 stakeholder qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis of the articles and interview transcripts generated five subthemes and two main themes: "weathering the storm" and "stressing Sámi culture and society". These reflect social dynamics which highlight stressors towards, and resilience within, the Sámi society during the pandemic. The results may be useful when evaluating and developing public health crisis response plans concerning or affecting the Sámi society in Sweden.
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