Cancer survival handbook aims at Alaska Natives

RANDALL HOWELL

May 09, 2008 at 11:20AM AKST

The best defensive weapon of choice for Alaska Native cancer survivors is a return to traditional subsistence food.

In a world gone awry with high-fat, processed food, scientific health studies show that a cancer-fighting, low-fat, low-processed diet can be found locally for Alaska Natives '97 indigenous people with the highest cancer death rates in the country.

In fact, the evidence is so powerful that the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has built a book, "Traditional Food Guide for Alaska Native Cancer Survivors," around the research.

Beyond its role for cancer patients, the book serves as a practical guide to wild food available throughout the state.

"The traditional food guide is not only for Alaska Native cancer survivors and their medical providers, but (also) for everyone who enjoys the natural foods from Alaska’s lands," said Desiree Simeon, a Tlingit nutritionist from Ketchikan.

Co-authored by Simeon, Christine DeCourtney and Karen Mitchell, a Yup’ik, the full-color spiral-bound book has an initial press run of 3,000. The co-authors work in the consortium’s cancer program.

"It’s the first of its kind," said DeCourtney, the consortium’s cancer program planning and development manager. "It’s healthy eating for all people."

The book, available for $24.95, is being distributed statewide by the consortium so that Alaska Natives have one of their first opportunities to not only see traditional subsistence food move center table in the cancer fight but also read about the nutritional value that scientific research has assigned to it.

"The book is very informative," said Patricia Bunyon, a Yup’ik elder from Hooper Bay. "I eat some of the Native foods described in the guide but did not know a lot about some of them, like gumboots, and some of the plants gathered from areas other than the Y-K area."

Developed with grant money from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the 142-page book also received financial support from the consortium, the Alaska Cancer Survivorship and Wellness Program, Alaska Regional Hospital’s Cancer Care Center, the American Cancer Society, the Intercultural Cancer Council, the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and the state’s Comprehensive Cancer Control Program.

Two years in the making, the book was an idea in the development stage since reports on nutritional information regarding traditional Alaska Native foods became available about 10 years ago, said DeCourtney.

"I always thought that information would be so valuable to someone someday," she said. "Now it’s going to be distributed to every Alaska Native cancer survivor in the state."

DeCourtney said that all Alaska Native village clinics, libraries and regional hospitals in the state would be sure to get copies for distribution.

"Of course, we want them to go to people who will use them," she said. "It’s information for healthy eating and healthy living and it connects to the true value of wild Alaska food."

After an introduction that sets out the connection that binds subsistence lifestyle with healthful food resources, the book offers several pages of tips and suggestions on some primary cancer-battle challenges, including getting protein and fiber in the diet.

In addition, it addresses the importance of diet in fighting fatigue '97 long a cancer survivor’s enemy. Then it shifts to accurate explanations about natural vitamins and their importance to healthy body function.

After some tips on disease prevention, such as hand washing and food preservation, the handbook moves quickly to subsistence meat sources, with Alaska Native names, definitions, explanations and nutrition information.

Included are glimpses of the historical role each subsistence animal has had in the traditional lifestyle of Alaska Natives. And preparation tips are provided for those who have disconnected from the traditional lifestyle.

From meat to seafood and then to plants '97 from beach asparagus to stinkweed '97 the handbook continues to provide essential information on nutritional value based on one-cup servings.

In a wrap-up choked with tried-and-true recipes, the book shares instruction on how to make just about anything from caribou soup to herring egg salad.

Under other foods, the book focuses on at least two favorites: pilot bread and Eskimo ice cream. And tucked on two pages near the end is a useful outline of moose and caribou parts, along with tips on how to use everything but the noise.

With 11 Alaska Native cultures in more than 200 rural and urban areas, the book signs off with a pitch for sharing and exchange '97 again, part of the traditional lifestyle known today mostly to the elders.

But that pitch is an invitation for urban and rural Alaska Natives to continue using their strong family ties to share the subsistence food resources that have sustained the many cultures for thousands of years.

For more information, contact DeCourtney at (907) 729-3922 or by e-mail at ul cdecourtney@anmc.org . Or go to the consortium’s Website at ul www.anthc.org .

Randall Howell can be reached at (907) 348-2463 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 463.